Axton-The Commando's Tale
by Binbix
Summary: Still reeling from his divorce and quick exit from the army, Axton enters the dangerous world of Pandora to become a Vault Hunter. What he didn't count on, was the adventures he would have and the relationships he would encounter. Join Axton as he traverses this strange alien planet for fortune, glory and redemption. And explosions. Lots of them. Seriously. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello faithful subscribers, readers and those I've paid to follow me! I'm back with this story I've been sitting on for a while. This is essentially BL2 through the eyes of Axton the Commando with my own take of the story. For you fans who love shipping, yes there will be a boat in this story. For everyone else, I'm going to put in some romance. Here's the thing though, I was originally going to have MayaxAxton, but I want to see his ex-wife Sarah's role in TFTB before I commit to anything. For now though, everything else will go according to schedule. I'm gonna be a little busy over the next few weeks, so I'll try to update as much as possible. Hope you guys enjoy the story! I do not own Borderlands.**

 _"As you commanding officer I cannot officially suggest you go AWOL, tonight, and try you luck on the border planets."_  
 _"Too bad, that would have been goog advice. What's this?"_  
 _"My wedding ring. Keep it. I never liked diamonds."_  
 _"Ouch"_

 _Ouch._ Axton though as the train sped along. Granted he acted kinda stupid not following orders _exactly_ to the letter, even though it was still freaking awesome watching the enemy base explode like that. But still, what the hell was Sarah's problem? He didn't screw up that badly. He got the mission done, didn't he? Plus, she knew the stakes when she said "I do". _Women._ Axton began fishing in his pack for a smoke. God knew he needed one right about now. Or at least an excuse to shoot something.

Suddenly the train stopped. He glanced up to see a woman with blue hair walk in. She waved to someone behind her as the doors closed. She walked over and sat down on the seats in front of him, nodded politely and gazed out the window. _Hmmm, interesting tats._ Axton thought. _They kinda look like a Siren's tattoos that they showed us pictures of in those intel reports. Either she's a Siren, or she really loves ink._ The blue-haired woman suddenly looked at him and gave him the stink-eye. "What are you staring at? She asked, accusingly.  
"Oh, sorry darlin'," Axton apologized, "it's just that I've never seen tattoos like-" He was cut off by the train stopping again. This time an overly muscular dwarf stepped in, armed to the teeth. He grunted hello and waddled over to the seats on the opposite side of the blue-haired woman.

The train went in motion again, this time in complete silence. Axton looked out the window in time to see a bandit hanging from a destroyed vehicle that was lying on the roof before he fell. Axton stared at that, shrugged and got up to stretch his legs. He turned to his right to suddenly see a tall, thin stranger that was garbed in some sort of armor and his head covered by a helmet with a screen over the face. _When did he get here?_ Aston wondered. He was cut off by the sudden sound of an alarm.

All four passengers looked up at the friendly sign of the Hyperion Corporation's Handsome Jack welcoming them as Vault Hunters. Then saw as the sign fell to reveal a slightly more threatening picture of Jack telling them to die. _Well, that's… hospitable._ Axton thought before the wall fell down revealing Hyperion loader bots armed to the teeth! Aston turned around and ran to give him self space between them, only to notice loaders coming from the opposite direction as well. 'Let's get to killing time!" He shouted with glee. Finally! An excuse to shoot something! He threw up his beloved turret to attach to the ceiling to fire at the loaders in front of him. He opened his ECHO device and got out a rocket launcher. "No such thing as overkill!" He announced before firing at one of the loaders. The blue-haired woman shielded her eyes from the bright explosion before turning her attention to the remains loader. She smiled and raised her hand. Both her strange tattoos, her hand and the loader began to glow as she locked him inside some sort of bubble. She turned to Axton and smiled. "Name's Maya, I'm a Siren."  
"Axton. I'm a Commando." He stated proudly. She nodded hello and flung her wrist, causing the orb with the loader bot to crash into the wall. What she didn't count on, was how close that was to the dwarf.

"Oh crap!" She shouted in surprise. Clearly she had a lot to learn. Axton rushed over next to her to only to see the dwarf hanging on a piece of broken metal like a monkey while grinning like a lunatic. He swung himself in and produced two assault rifles from his storage deck! He laughed like crazy as he opened fire at the two loaders that Axton didn't notice behind him. When the smoke cleared, he cocked up his rifles, grinning with a crazy look in his eye.  
"Me nombre es Salvador!" He declared in Truxican. "Yo soy Gunzerker!"  
"Um, sorry dude." Axton said. 'I don't speak Truxican." The little man grunted and repeated himself in English.  
"What's a Gunzerker supposed to be?" Maya asked.  
"Me!" Salvador declared happily.

Axton shook his head, before realizing they were missing someone. He looked out of the hole Maya provided to see if the masked guy fell or was hanging from debris. Instead, he looked to see Hyperion engineers wearing exoskeletons climbing to the roof of the train. He peered up to the roof to see the masked man standing with his back turned to them. "Look out!" Axton yelled too late as the masked man turned to slowly to receive a hit from the engineer. But instead the robotic fist went through him! He looked down at the fist, then looked up, flickered and disappeared. _What the hell_ is _this guy?_ Axton wondered in shock. A ghost? Suddenly, he saw the guy reappear behind the engineers, sword in hand. He ran up and ran his blade through one of them, before flipping over and kicking the other one straight into the blade. His visor showed a holographic zero before he reached sown and got out his blade. He swung himself back inside in front of the other three passengers. "Well, wasn't that fun?/ I am Zer0, a number/ that is all you need." Everyone just nodded their heads in unison as Zer0 put his weapon down but ready.  
"Was that a haiku?" Maya suddenly asked.  
"Really?" Axton said to her. "That's what you're taking away from all of that? Really?"  
"What's a haiku? Salvador scratched his head.

All four passengers turned towards the fron of the train. "Whoever thought they could trap and kill us is going to pay!" Axton grumbled.  
"What do you mean who?" Maya asked incredulously. "Pretty obvious it was Handsome Jack."  
"Well… uh, yeah." Axton scratched his head. _Really should've thought that one through, numbskull. No wonder Sarah dumped you._ He reached the conductors door, raising an assault rifle. He turned towards Zer0 and gestured for him to open it so they could breach. Zer0 just stood at the ready, his sword high in the air. Aston then gestured at Salvador who just raised his weapons showing that he had his hands full. Either that, or he wasn't interested. He looked at Maya who just shrugged and brandished an SMG and stood behind him. Axton shook his head and knocked the door down himself, only to find a statue of Handsome Jack surrounded by tons of dynamite. "It's cute that y'all think you're the heroes of this adventure, but you're not." "Oh crap." Axton realized too late. _Nice one Glory Hound. Sarah was right._  
"Welcome to Pandora kiddos!" Jack yelled. BOOOM!

 **Author's Note: And that concludes chapter 1 of our exciting tale! Will Axton and his friends survive? Will they seek vengeance? Will they meet an annoying robot that somehow is highly popular? Why am I asking you all this? We played the game! We know already! But I shall have some inner plot twists and story arcs to keep you mildly entertained long enough to convince you to hit that follow button! Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hello again dear readers! I'm sorry but I feel like I should have mentioned this before if it wasn't obvious or apparent to everyone because most likely it was not since none of you are psychics. At least none that I know of (looking at you CG Adam). Jokes aside, Gaige and Krieg WILL be making their way into this fanfic. Not at this current moment, but they will and they will be playing huge parts. Or at least Krieg will. Gaige, I'm still working out the kinks with her. Anyway, for those of you who were about to yell at me for lack of the other 2 Vault Hunters, they will be coming. Also, I will be referencing The Pre-Sequel a few times in this fanfic. I don't think there will be any spoilers, but just in case I'm warning you in advance. Shouldn't matter at this point though. Anyway, enough stalling. On with the show! I do not own Borderlands.**

 _Son of a friggin' bitch._ The first thing Axton noticed was that his head hurt like someone fired a Torgue rocket into his skull. The second thing he noticed was that the rest of his body hurt like hell too. Then his ears, but that was because of a robotic voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. _Wait a minute. Voice?_ Aston opened his eyes to see that he had landed somewhere in a snowy area. He was surrounded by a few frozen, dead bodies, and in front of him was a yellow robot shoveling them. "Great, another dead Vault Hunter." The robot said. "Handsome Jack's been busy." Still in pain, Axton struggled forward, groaning the whole inch. The noise drew the robot's attention. It turned to see Axton moving in the snow. "Wait a minute! You're not dead! YES! Now I can get off this glacier!" Axton started to bring himself up on his two legs until he was standing. "Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!" The robot continued, oblivious to Axton's pain and annoyance. The robot wheeled around to face Axton. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am a CL4-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap. Or they would if they were still alive. Or had existed in the first place." Aston gave a painful nod as he arched his back and began scouting the area. "Oh, I've got something for you." Claptrap grabbed something from out of the ground and handed it over to Axton. "Here, take this ECHO communicator that I totally didn't loot from one of these corpses!"

"Uh, thanks but I've already got one-" Axton brought out his now-broken ECHO device. _Crap. And I just added some awesome mods to my turret._ Axton sighed as he removed some chips from his old ECHO to his new one and began to synch his ECHO to his turret. _That's gonna take some time._ A thought then struck him. _Shit. All of my cash and weapons were stored on that thing._ He realized. He did a quick check all over, only to find his hatchet. _Not very effective. Or as badass as that guy's sword. Where is that guy anyway?_ He looked around to see if anyone else from the crash had survived. Nothing but snow. He looked up and saw the fading smoke trails from the explosion. It looked like the others crashed nearby but not in the exact same area. Hopefully they would still be alive if he could find them. They were pretty good in a fight and he could definitely use some backup. Especially now that all of his weapons and cash were gone. As soon as he got back what he lost, he'd go solo just as always. He shrugged off the cold and went to follow Claptrap into his tiny glacier hut. The whole time Claptrap was getting excited about how they were gonna take on Handsome Jack and that Axton would be his minion.  
As he was checking out his heads-up display and surroundings, an image of a woman with jet-black hair, suddenly obscured his vision. "I'll explain everything soon, but know this - you're alive for a reason, and I… am here to help you."  
"The hell?" Axton asked, surprised. "Who are you?"  
"You can call me Angel." The girl said. "Don't worry about your friends either. I'll guide them towards you."  
"Um, okay thanks, I guess." Axton scratched his head. "Though I dunno if 'friends' is the right word for those guys. Maybe 'acquaintances I just met before a train blew us up'." Angel made a sound that Axton could've sworn was a chuckle before disappearing. _Great, now I'm talking to imaginary women. How hard did I bump my head?_

Axton stepped into Claptrap's place to discover tons of ammo crates, dismembered CL4-TP units, and a surprising amount of dead bodies strewn all over the place. "Sorry about the mess." Claptrap apologized before going off again about Handsome Jack. Axton just took the opportunity to raid some of the loot boxes and crates to collect ammo for his storage deck, and also to try and drown out Claptrap's voice. "Now, the creatures around here are dangerous," the oblivious robot continued, "none more than this bullymong named Knuckledragger, killed everyone I know." "Yup, got it." Axton half responded while looking for some cash beneath the bloody couch cushions. _Seriously, why does it always end up in a couch?_ Suddenly he heard a huge roar. He turned around to see a gigantic ape-like monster climb from the hole in the roof, pick up Claptrap, yank his eye out and then make his escape. "Holy shit!" Axton yelled. If he was going to survive another minute on Pandora, he would need a gun. Fast. Claptrap lay on the ground, shaking like he was shivering from the cold. He began muttering something about a gun in a cabinet. Axton walked over to find a Dahl handgun. _Not my first choice, but it'll do for now._

As Claptrap began lifting himself up, Axton's display began to flicker again as Angel reappeared. "Once upon a time," she began, "four Vault Hunters changed pandora forever. But their time has passes thanks to Handsome Jack. Pandora needs new heroes. I know that they are you and the others." "Darlin'," Axton said, loading his pistol, "I don't know what you know about me, but I'm a solo guy. I'm not much of a sharing type. When I go for the glory, I take it all." "Is that why your wife divorced you?" Angel asked innocently. That hit Axton like a ton of bricks. "Sorry," Angel apologized, "but maybe this is your chance to prove to her and yourself that you are capable of sharing the glory." "Yeah… Maybe." Axton mumbled. Angel signed off before Axton could say another word. Axton sighed and looked at Claptrap who didn't seem to mind very much that he was blind and was proclaiming that he always wanted a Vault Hunter for a minion to get to Sanctuary. _I'm going to rip this robot apart._ Axton thought darkly. Claptrap bumbled forward to open the door to the outside. "Onward, seeing-eye minion!" He proclaimed. "Let me know if I run into anything!" He then proceeded to run straight into a block of ice. "I'll just assume you didn't see that!"

Claptrap said cheerfully and continued forward into the snow, bragging about how they would find his eye in no time. Axton had just about enough of this annoying robot. He drew the pistol and aimed it straight at Claptrap. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Angel spoke up. "You'll need his help getting off this glacier and into the city of Sanctuary, home of the resistance against Jack. That is the only place you will be safe." "You've gotta be kidding me." Axton groaned. " _This_ stupid robot is going to be able to help me?" Angel just smiled and signed off. "The least you could do is answer me!" Axton yelled. "What did you say, minion?" Claptrap yelled back to him. Axton glared at the yellow annoyance and trudged after him. "I swear, if you call me minion one more time-" Axton was interrupted by the sound of a roar.

"AAAAHH! BULLYMONGS!" Claptrap ran for safety. "PROTECT ME SQUIRE!" _Well, at least I get to shoot stuff._ Axton took aim, and began firing away. Pistol bullets were strong but had crappy range causing Axton to get closer than he'd like for combat. A bullymong came at him from the side. He quickly drew his hatchet and swung at the six-armed beast, burying the hatchet in its head. As he wrenched his weapon free, the ground began to shake.  
"What the hell was that?" He wondered when the shaking stopped.  
"Handsome Jack is at it again." Claptrap answered, continuing forward. "Ever since he set up shop on Pandora, he's been drilling for the Vault. Some people say that's what causes these earthquakes. Either that or your mom just got out of bed! Zing!" _Stay calm Axton, stay calm. As soon as you can cut this thing loose, you'll do it with a jackhammer._ "Hey, minion! Wanna hear me beatbox?" _Well, that did it._ Axton gave the snow behind Claptrap's wheel a little nudge, causing him to fall down a nearby cliff into the snow below. "Help me minion!" So close. Axton then noticed more bullymongs showing up. He cocked his pistol and jumped down.  
After Axton shot the last bullymong, he reluctantly helped Claptrap out of the snow. "Hey kiddo." A voice came through Axton's ECHO device. "Jack here. President of Hyperion. Lemme explain how things work here: Vault Hunters show up. Vault Hunters look for the new Vault. Vault Hunters get killed. By me. Seeing the problem here? You're still alive. So if you could do me a favor and off yourself, that'd be great. Thanks pumpkin."  
"Are you kidding me?" Axton roared. "You think that a douchebag like you can try to kill me and get away with it? I'm taking you down jackass!" There was silence from the other end. "You hear me Jack?" Axton taunted.  
"I'm sorry, are you speaking?" Jack spoke through the ECHO. "No seriously, are you? You gotta be kidding me. How the hell is it that I can hack into your communicator and talk to you whenever I want, but can't hear a single response? This sucks. Well, die anyway. Bye!"  
 _What a douche._ Axton thought as Claptrap broke through a wall into a small enclosure surrounded by wreckage from what looked to be… _Hey, this all must be from the train._ Axton realized. _I wonder if any of the others are nearby._ "Oh! My eye just switched back on!" Claptrap exclaimed. "Great, what do you see?" Axton asked, ready to get this over with so he could get to Jack.  
"I see a tough-looking minion, and an incredibly handsome robot." Claptrap answered. He suddenly began to shudder. 'Which means that whoever has my eye, is very close." As if on cue, the bullymong known as Knuckledragger appeared on top of a pile of crushed debris and lifted the remains of a bandit vehicle over his head and threw it to the ground in front of Axton. He then jumped on top of it, smashing it to bits as he roared loudly. _This is gonna hurt._ Axton drew his pistol and began firing away at the giant bullymong while trying to clear the space between himself and Knuckledragger's giant fists. He leapt over one punch and swung with his hatchet at the bullymong. That just seemed to make him angry. He roared again, even more loudly than before. "Oh God!" Claptrap cried. "They're coming out of the wall sphincters!" Sure enough Axton looked to see smaller bullymongs coming out of tiny crevices in the icy walls above him to help their leader. Axton used the wall as leverage and jumped over Knuckledragger. He landed with a somersault and fired away at any oncoming bullymong. Fortunately, their hides weren't as tough as Knuckledragger's, but that didn't stop him from jumping all over the place, killing monsters and avoiding their leader's grip. Axton fired on the last bullymong and turned to fire at Knuckledragger, but slipped on the ice and fell backwards. Shit shit shit. He quickly picked up his gun and fired as fast as he could at the oncoming beast. Knuckledragger knocked the gun out of Axton's hands and raised his arms over his head. Dammit. Then suddenly, Knuckledragger's arms sagged down to their sides slowly. The great bullymong fell forward to reveal a sword sticking out of its back. "Need help?" Zer0 mused, a holographic red :) appeared on his visor. He pulled his sword out of the carcass and lended a hand to Axton.  
"Thanks. How did you find me?" Axton asked.  
"I was shown the way/ By a woman of vision/ Her name was Angel." Zer0 answered.  
"Again with the haikus, huh?" Axton asked. Zero just shrugged and turned to face Claptrap who had come wheeling over. "Woohoo! You did it minion! And you brought me another minion! Greetings minion number 2! I am your humble and amazing master Claptrap!" The robot cheered. Zer0 looked to Axton and showed a red ?. Axton just shrugged and sighed. "If you would, minions, retrieve my eye for me." Claptrap continued. "Oh and sorry for saying 'wall sphincters'. I say that a lot when I'm frightened." Axton just shook his head and picked up his gun and Claptrap's eye. "Great! Now we just gotta find someone to put it back into me. Much as I'm sure you'd like to jam your fist into my skull, optic surgery is best left to the professionals. My pal in Hammerlock in Liar's Berg can fix me up!" Claptrap turned to take the lead. "Allons-y!"  
"This is the robot/ That Angel told me would help?/ I want to kill him." Zer0 said.  
"I think you and I are gonna get along just fine." Axton said, patting the ninja on the back. They both trudged after Claptrap who was waiting at some Hyperion door from one of the train cars.  
"Liar's Berg's on the other side of this Hyperion barge." He pronounced. "What say we cut through it chums?"  
"How?" Axton asked. "It's solid steel."  
"Ha!" Claptrap laughed. "This dorr's Hyperion tech. Child's play!" He went up to the door's scanner. "Aaaannd OPEN!" The scanner's light scanned Claptrap for a moment before turning red and locking the door from intruders.  
"…Any other bright ideas?" Axton asked.  
"Well," Claptrap said," it was nice knowing ya! I hear getting eaten alive by bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go."  
"I have no intent/ To die on this day, robot/ But I may kill you." Zer0 threatened.  
"Lemme get that for you." Angel spoke up. The scanner light began blinking and flickering. "Executing phase shift." The door lit green and unlocked. "Wow. Thanks Angel." Axton said.  
"You're welcome!" Angel responded. "Perks of being an Artificial Intelligence. I'm networked into almost everything on this planet." The door opened to reveal cache boxes full of loot, ammo, and weapons. "It's a long way to Sanctuary. Please take whatever you'll need for the journey ahead." She said before signing off.  
"Hmmm, curious." Zer0 pondered as he picked up a shotgun.  
"What?" Axton asked as he did the same.  
"I'm just wondering/ Why an A.I. wants to aid/ Us poor Vault Hunters." Zer0 responded, showing another ? on his visor. Axton shrugged.  
"You've got a point, but for now she's all that's helping us, and I don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Axton told him. "We just survived a train explosion and bullymongs, I think we'll be fine." Zero pondered this for a few seconds before nodding and heading with Axton and Claptrap through the door to Liar's Berg.  
"You were in Dahl?" Zer0 asked, pointing to Axton's insignia on his forehead.  
"It's a long story." Axton responded.  
"We have time." Zer0 said.

 **Author's Note: Ok! Sorry this took a while to get up. To explain, I never really liked the idea that all the Vault Hunters just happened to land in the exact same area together, so I split them up. This will still follow Axton (and now Zer0) but don't worry Sal and Maya will be coming in soon to join up with them. As will Gaige and Krieg, just not as soon. BTW Gaige's entrance to the story, I have down pat, but I'm trying to figure out where and how to introduce Krieg. Any suggestions would be great. Only rule is that he HAS to be introduced AFTER Captain Flynt. Send me whatever you got! See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hello dear readers! I am so sorry for the delay in chapters. I feel like an idiot for forgetting to say it would be a while until the next update because I was away from my computer (and internet) for a long time. Now that that's over let's get this show on the road! I do not own Borderlands.**

"… which brought me to Pandora to become a Vault Hunter." Axton finished as he and Zer0 climbed up after Claptrap. They seemed to be walking for hours, though without a watch it felt like more. Axton had a clock on his ECHO but he didn't want to keep checking it periodically because that would require him to stop and hold everyone else up. The only distraction besides his storytelling was the occasional bullymong attack. Telling his tale didn't help much either. Even the good parts of his days in Dahl made him remember the hurt he left behind. He shook these thoughts away and climbed after Zer0 who held out his hand to give Axton help getup up a steep snow bank. "And what's your story?" He asked as he reached the top.  
"My story is small/ I came here for the challenge/ And to test myself." Zer0 answered.  
"Do you always speak in haiku?" Axton asked as they continued after Claptrap who was yelling something about a pirate named Flynt and a boat he used to own.  
"Well, not all the time/ Mostly because it sounds cool/ It's like a trademark." Zer0 responded. "I can stop speaking in haiku if it bothers you."  
"Nah," Axton shrugged it off, "doesn't bother me much anyway. Gotta admit it is kinda cool." Zer0 showed a :) on his visor and began to follow Claptrap down a hill, who had moved on to say how Flynt used to torture him for fun.

Soon they came within sight of a small settlement in the snow. "So we'll find your Hammerlock guy down there?" Axton asked, annoyed that he couldn't just pop a bullet into the robot and leave it in the snow. _Damn Angel telling me I need this hunk of scrap._ "Yep!" Claptrap answered cheerfully and led the way down.  
"Attention people of Pandora!" A jackass's voice announced through both Axton's and Zer0's ECHOs. "Handsome Jack here, offering a million bucks to whoever brings me the heads of the Vault Hunters who just arrived in Liar's Berg." _Shit_. "Oh and I'm still offering a reward for Roland, the mass-murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good Hunting bandits!"  
"What a jackass." Zer0 commented after several seconds of silence. Axton grinned.  
"Zer0," he said, "this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

"A million bucks?!" A stranger's voice came through the ECHO. "Alright boys! This is Captain Flynt!" Claptrap suddenly yelped and tucked himself into his metal body. "I want you to find those Vault Hunters and bring them to me! NOW!"  
"How did we hear that?" Axton asked aloud. "I hacked your ECHO devices and strengthened their signals so that you can hear nearby bandits speaking on the same frequency." Angel answered. "Now you can hear the Pandoran bandits' plans without needing their personal ECHO clarification number."  
"Nice." Axton grinned. If he learned anything as a grunt in boot camp, besides how well he could clean a latrine with a toothbrush as a punishment for rash actions, you can never know too much about the enemy. "Can the other Vault Hunters hear us too?" Zer0 asked.  
"No," Angel answered, "I wanted you guys to have a private channel which will work better when you personally link up. They're almost there though. Keep moving."

Claptrap went forward to the security gate and tried punching a code in. When that didn't work, he went to the middle of the gate and called out, "Hey! Hammerlock!"  
"Spectacular!" A rushed British voice sounded out through the ECHOs among static and what sounded like bullets. "First Captain Flynt's Bandits attack, then Claptrap shows up! I must have been horrifyingly cruel to puppies in a previous life to deserve this kind of treatment."  
"Speak for yourself," Axton chimed in, "you didn't have to walk with him the past few hours and listen to him try and beatbox."  
"Good point." Hammerlock conceded. "I say, Vault Hunters could you be good old chaps and kill Flynt's men for me?"  
"With pleasure." Zer0 said, raising his gun as the gates rose and then fell over. "Got a proposition for you Vault Hunters." Flynt's ragged voice declared. "You boys give up, we'll just shoot you in the head. It'll be quick, clean and a helluva lot less painful than what Handsome Jack'll do to ya."  
"I've got no plans to surrender, do you?" Axton asked Zer0 with a cocky grin.  
"Only in death." Zer0 responded.  
"Didn't think so." Axton raised his shotgun. "Let's rock."

Axton and Zer0 ran forward into the small settlement of Liar's Berg with their guns at the ready. Axton took cover behind a snow bank and fired on a nearby bandit. He looked over to see Zer0 speedily dodging enemy fire to put his shotgun at a bandits stomach and fire away. He quickly switched to his handgun and fired at two more bandits to the side. Axton heard the sound of guns being reloaded and took the opportunity to jump out and rush the enemy. He swung his hatchet at the first bandit's head, lodging it into his brain. He brought his shotgun to a close proximity of another bandit's head. "Bang." He said before pulling the trigger. _I can be so corny sometimes._ He thought with a grin. All of a sudden, the roar of bullymongs interrupted the gunfire, and two huge bullymongs came charging into the clearing. Zer0 jumped on top of one that was charging at him and drove his blade into its back. Axton slid under the second one and unloaded an entire handgun clip into its belly. Soon the only things left standing were the Vault Hunters and the little yellow robot who was trying to kick one of the dead bodies with his wheel. "Dammit!" Flynt roared. "This ain't over grinder!" He yelled before signing off. Axton spit on one of the dead bodies and holstered his weapons. He waled over to where Zer0 was cleaning his blade.  
"Not bad handiwork." He commented, kicking a dead bandit's head with the heel of his boot.  
"The same back at you./ I normally work alone/ But I would join you." Zer0 responded and raised his hand. "Partner?" Axton smiled.  
"Partner." He took Zer0's hand and shook. Then they both wiped their hands of the blood they never cleaned off before shaking hands.

"Hey! Hammerlock!" Claptrap yelled. "Since my minions just saved your town, you wanna do your bestie Claptrap a favor and repair my eye?" Axton sighed and turned the blindd robot away from the broken vending machine he was talking to.  
"Yes I suppose I'm in your debt now, aren't I?" Hammerlock sighed. "Very well come to my shack and I shall restore Claptrap's sight. First I shall turn off the electrical fence for you. Please stay back, Vault Hunters and let Claptrap go first." "I knew Hammerlock would come around eventually!" Claptrap exclaimed as he wheeled towards the fence which Axton wasn't sure if Hammerlock turned off the electricity all the way. "Me and him are like two peas in a pod!" Claptrap drone on and on only to slam right into the fully electrified fence and fall down flat.  
"Huh." Axton mused. "If that's what shuts him up, I would have found something to electrify him a long time ago." Zer0 responded with a :) lighting up on his visor.  
"Apologies but when Claptrap speaks, I feel my brain cells committing suicide, one by one. I shall be out directly." The door to the shack swung open and out marched a smartly dressed man in an outback hunter's uniform and broken glasses. Axton also noticed that this Sir Hammerlock had a cybernetic leg and arm. _Guess that makes him a professional robot eye doctor._ He thought. Hammerlock stopped short of the fence and saluted.  
"A pleasure to meet you Vault Hunters." He said. "I am Sir Hammerlock- Hunter, Scholar, Gentleman- at your service." Axton gave a small two-fingered salute in return.  
"Likewise Sir Hammerlock," Axton responded, "I'm Axton, commando formerly of Dahl and this is Zer0…. he's a number." Zer0 nodded. "Not that I don't like the robot not talking but we kinda need his help to get to a town called Sanctuary, can you fix him?"

"Of course, sir." Hammerlock answered and made his way to the controls to the electric fence. "I came out here to research Bullymongs for my almanac, but Captain Flynt's men trapped me on this glacier." He explained as he began the procedure to open the fence. "Many thanks for disposing of them. by the way. To survive a direct run-in with Handsome Jack AND defeat Captain Flynt's bandits? Unheard of." The gate opened and he stepped through. "I'm headed to Sanctuary myself. From what I hear, the Crimson Raiders there could use a hero like you." _Hero?_ Axton thought. He wasn't much of a hero, just a glory-hungry commando, but if joining up with the Crimson Raiders meant getting Handsome Jack then he was in. "Now if you could hand over the robot's eye please." Axton handed the eye over and Hammerlock went to work.  
"You know what to do?" Zer0 inquired.  
"Yes of course, sir." Hammerlock exclaimed with dignity. "When I first began my expeditions of this glacier and its surrounding areas, I discovered our annoying little robot in dire need of repairs. I set to work on bringing him back to functioning form and succeeded, later discovering this to be the worst mistake of my entire career. Unfortunately, he could not explain where and how he received all of his dents and laser burns or where his missing wheel had gone off to due to his memory loss. Upon his revival, he was instructed by the Crimson Raiders to act as a guide to any Vault Hunters that Handsome Jack threw his way via dead bodies in hopes of survivors. But really, they just wanted him out of Sanctuary, he's really annoying." Hammerlock made a few more adjustments and bashed the eye into its socket. "That should do it!" Claptrap jumped up like a monkey out of a barrel.  
"HAHA!" He yelled. "I'M ALIVE!"  
"Oh dear, he's talking again." Hammerlock muttered.  
"Minions!" Claptrap exclaimed. "Now I've got my eyesight back and you're far uglier than I remembered! Time to join up with the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary! This glacier's full of nothing but murderers or jerkbags, like that Hammerlock dude!"  
"I'm standing right here, 'dude'." Hammerlock said through grunted teeth. He turned towards the Vault Hunters. "Now that Liar's Berg is clear, I may as well turn on the main power. This town's full of things that may be of use to a go-getting slayer of men such as yourselves." Hammerlock headed toward the town's generator with Zer0 in tow as he went on about Handsome Jack the madman. Axton took a look around. With someone like Zer0 on his side and other allies like Hammerlock, they just maybe had a shot against Jack. _Maybe being a team player isn't too bad,_ he thought, _I wonder if the other Vault Hunters will be as helpful_.

 **Author's Note: Ok! Hope that was long enough to satisfy! And don't worry, Salvador and Maya will be in the next chapter. Probably. See you guys next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hey-O! I've finally completed this next exciting chapter! Get ready for thrills! Laughs! And explosions! P.S. if you can't handle the intense explosions, I recommend you not read this chapter as it may become too violently hilarious. Anywho enjoy! I do not own Borderlands.**

"All this just to get a couple of shields?" Axton complained as he purchased a shield through the vending machine he and Zer0 just reinstalled. "Seriously dude, what the hell?"  
"Maybe if Claptrap/ Did not fornicate with it/ This could be easy." Zer0 responded with a hint of annoyance in his tone. The two Vault Hunters had stuck around Liar's Berg for a while doing some oddjobbers and missions for Hammerlock to earn them some cash and better gear. Axton equipped his new shield and turned it on. He immediately felt a tingling surge as the shield's force field covered his body and helped shield him from the blistering cold of the tundra. He looked over to see that Zer0 had done the same. Axton grabbed his new assault rifle, which Hammerlock gave to him and Zer0 for clearing out bullymongs, and the two headed back to Hammerlock and Claptrap.  
"A very good job indeed!" Hammerlock pronounced upon their return. "Those shields should be quite effective against the likes of Flynt and his men!" He leaned in closer and whispered. "By the by, have you brought what I needed for our other arrangement?"  
"Yeah, we've got the bullying fur right here for you." Axton said, reaching into his pack. "Was a bitch getting the fur though."  
"Fur?!" Claptrap yelled. "Why didn't you say so? I need some fur for my hair!"  
"You don't have any hair you overgrown toaster!" Hammerlock ranted.  
"No, but I will once I get the fur!" Claptrap responded cheerfully, completely ignorant to Hammerlock's annoyance. "I'm thinking of styling it into a mohawk. That's still cool right? Hey! Why do you need the fur, Hammerjunk? You already have hair."  
"I need it to fashion a plume for my headwear as all stylish gentlemen own such pieces of fashion, and it's Hammerlock you metal buffoon! Besides I'm offering these gentlemen my finest sniper rifle in return for their services."  
"Sniper rifle? Please! Give _me_ the fur and I'll give you a shotgun!" Claptrap offered.  
"And where in the world did you acquire a shotgun?" Hammerlock asked, flabbergasted. "You don't even use guns!"  
"Calm down! Both of you!" Axton yelled. "We have enough fur to split between the two of you."  
"Ah, very well then." Hammerlock adjusted his hat and monocle. "Many thanks, friends. My weapon is yours!"  
"Gimme that, minion!" Claptrap grabbed the fur from Axton's hands and dumped a shotgun in its place. Axton looked over their newly acquired loot.  
"Which do you want?" He asked Zer0.  
"The sniper is mine." Zer0 picked up the rifle and began to inspect it.  
"Suits me fine." Axton picked up the shotgun and replaced it in his storage deck's weapon ready system with the older shotgun he picked up.

"Hey, Angel." Axton spoke into his ECHO, trying to get the helpful AI's attention.  
"Yes, Axton?" Angel responded.  
"Any word on the other two Vault Hunters yet? We've been waiting a while?"  
"They're nearing your location, but I'd suggest you move along." Angel answered.  
"Right." He responded before she signed off. "Ready Zer0?"  
"Affirmative." Zer0 raised his handgun at the ready.

"Okay, Claptrap." Axton announced. "We're ready to get moving. What's the deal with Flynt?"  
"We had a gentlemen's agreement in the past." Claptrap said. "I'd give him the loot I collected from the dead bodies Handsome Jack dumps in the snow, and he promises not to torture me, and then he does it anyway!" Claptrap turned around and led the way out of town. "But that ends today! We're gonna take him out, steal my ship back and sail to Sanctuary!" Axton and Zer0 followed the robot as he wheeled down the hill. As they were doing so, Flynt's voice came on over their ECHOs. "Here's what going to happen, Vault Hunters! My first mate Boom Bewm is gonna kill ya, Jack's gonna pay us and I'm going to play hopscotch in your chest cavity!"  
As Claptrap went on about Flynt's mates and their gory histories, Jack himself came on the ECHOs. "Hey buddies!" Jack's voice said before a gagging sound could be heard. "Ugh these pretzels suck. So how's your day been? We haven't talked since I left you guys for dead. Hey you think you'll freeze to death out there? Nah, probably not, bandits'll get you first."  
"Go screw yourself, Jack." Axton grunted as he took aim at some bandits up ahead.  
"My day?" Jack went on, either not hearing because of the glitch or not caring. "Been pretty good. Just bought a point made of diamonds. So you know? That's cool. Kay bye."  
"What was the point of that?" Axton complained to Zer0 who just decapitated another bandit. Zer0 just shrugged and sheathed his sword. They crossed a small wooden bridge to where the entrance of Flynt's hideout was located. With more bandits for Axton and Zer0 to shoot. Damn, Axton thought, this would be so much easier if my turret was working. He checked the sync progress on his ECHO but no dice. Still had some more to be done. He looked up to see Zer0 flip up onto a roof and shoot a bandit in the face with his handgun before switching to an SMG and opening fire below him. Axton joined in on the fire from his location, and soon the entire area was red with bandit blood.  
"I'm racking my brain trying to think of a name for that diamond pony I bought." Jack's voice came on again through the ECHO. "I was gonna call it 'piss-for-brains' in honor of you guys, but that just seems immature. Maybe Butt Stallion?"  
Axton was getting pissed. "How about you-"  
"Nah, that's even worse." Jack went on. "Tell you what, I'll give it some more thought."  
"Does this guy shut up?" Zer0 complained. Axton just shrugged and reloaded.  
"He'll get what's coming to him." He affirmed.

Jack came on again to confirm that Butt Stallion was an actual living horse made of diamonds, but this time Axton just ignored it while he shot at the suicide psychos coming out of the doorway Claptrap opened. Claptrap rolled on through before falling down into a closed-off area with concrete barriers and some sort of machine that looked like it was part of a boat at some point. "It's Boom-Bewm!" Claptrap declared before screaming like a little girl and running for cover. Axton looked to where he had pointed to see a bandit clad in armor (and for some reason drills where his nipples would be). The bandit stood on top of the machine that was now swiveling towards Axton and Zer0. With horror, Axton realized it wasn't just any machine. It was a freaking huge gun. A cannon. "Light the fuses, bitches!" The bandit cried out and sent a shot flying in their direction. It landed directly in front of them, giving Axton the opportunity to spot a midget bandit, that was similarly dressed, sporting a jetpack and flying towards them. "I'm ready to blow!" The bandit cried out and got into the operating seat.

"Who are these guys?!" Axton yelled as he ran for cover from the next cannon shot.  
"It's Boom and his brother Bewm!" Claptrap answered from his hiding spot. He looked up to see Axton standing over him and ran to find another hiding spot. Axton looked over to see Zer0 taking cover behind another barrier further away. He also noticed Bewm flying towards Zer0's spot. "Zer0." Axton said into his ECHO device so he could be heard despite the distance and gunfire. Zer0 looked back at him. "Is your cloaking device trick that you used back on the train working?" Zer0 checked his ECHO quickly then flashed a :) on his visor before disappearing.

Axton checked his own ECHO to see his turret's progress but was interrupted by more cannon fire. He stood up to return fire only to be blocked by a few psycho bandits coming towards him. He looked to see Zer0, or maybe his hologram, in front of him, sword at the ready. "Tag team!" Axton called out quickly while running past him. Another cannon shot came his way but he dodged it in time and cut a psycho down with his hatchet. He raised his assault rifle and began firing at the flying Bewm. Unfortunately Bewm had the aerial advantage, dodging Axton's bullets and threw a handful of grenades at Axton's feet. Axton leapt backward only to be caught in the blast. He landed in the snow, shields depleted and his gun only a few feet in front of him. He scrambled to grab the gun only to see a shotgun in his face. He looked up to see the grinning midget bandit. _Dammit_ , Axton thought, _not like this. Seriously, not like this. There's no way I'm about to be killed by a midget wearing a jetpack._ Suddenly a voice called out "Anyone need a Siren on their side?" A purple orb surrounded Bewm and raised him high into the air. Axton looked to see the Siren Maya along with the short, crazy truxican Salvador standing only a few feet behind him. Axton grinned, brought out his shotgun and took fired at Bewm. He stood up and dusted himself off.  
"What took you so long?" He asked while taking cover from a now-enraged Boom who was firing cannon shots like there was no tomorrow. Maya smirked and brought out her SMG and fired at a few psychos that were running up to them.  
"You're welcome." She responded calmly. Axton looked to see a psycho being decapitated by an invisible Zer0, who reappeared and shot down another with his handgun. He looked to the other side to see Salvador dual wielding an assault rifle and a shotgun, and firing away at the cannon.

"We need to get Boom off of that cannon." He announced. Maya nodded.  
"Did you get that, Sal?" She spoke into her ECHO.  
"Working on it, chica!" Salvador responded.  
"Axton, your turret/ Is it operational?/ We could use its help." Zer0 called out from the barrier he was currently taking cover behind. Axton took out the box holding the missus. Only one way to find out. He stood up and tossed the box as hard as he was able to. The box landed about twenty feet from the cannon. A quick beeping sound was heard and it began to open and digistruct. Soon Axton's turret was standing and at the ready. "Turret deployed!" Axton called out triumphantly. The turret locked on to the cannon and opened fire. Axton signaled to Maya to follow his lead and began to skirt around the barriers to get to the side of the cannon. Maya did the same with Salvador at her heels. Zer0 appeared next to Axton, SMG at the ready. "Fire at will!" Axton declared, and opened fire at the cannon.

Bullets came flying at all sides, making it too hard for Boom to get the canon in position to both defend himself and avenge his brother's death. One of the cannon's generators blew from the gunfire, forcing him to abandon the cannon altogether and take on his opponents on foot. He threw out handfuls of grenades in every direction and brought out his shotgun, firing at one of the Vault Hunters. He kept firing and firing only to see that the bullets had no effect. "Why won't you die?!" He cried and kept firing while coming closer. He fired point blank until he ran out of ammo, then abandoned his gun and leapt forward to tackle the Vault Hunter. A surprised Boom went straight through Zer0's holographic decoy and landed in the snow. He looked up to see Axton's shotgun in his face. "Boom." Axton said before pulling the trigger.

Axton stood up and dusted himself off. "Boom?" Maya commented with a raised eyebrow. Axton just shrugged.  
"Got caught in the moment, darlin'." He responded. Maya just put her fingers into an L formation and held it to her forehead and smirked. Axton rolled his eyes and smiled while he collected some of the loot Boom dropped.  
"Seriously though," Axton asked, "what took you guys so long to catch up with us?"  
"We were dealing with some kind of bullymong-midget hybrid before arriving at Liar's Berg." Maya answered with such calmness in her voice she might have just said she went out for a walk. "That guy Hammerlock pointed us in the direction that you guys went with some robot that Angel told us to find so we could get to Sanctuary. The rest, as they say, is history."  
"So you guys spoke to Angel too, huh?" Axton gathered. "Ci." Salavador answered. "That espíritu led me to Maya, and we two were led to you so we could all kill that pendejo Jack!"  
"Sal," Maya rolled her eyes, trying to rein in her frustration, "for the last time, she's not a spirit she's an Artificial Intelligence that hacked our ECHO feeds." Salvador just stared blankly at her, shrugged and went back to looting.

Soon all four Vault Hunters stood in front of a giant wooden doorway, where Claptrap was waiting for them. "So," Maya frowned, " _this_ is the robot that we need to get to Sanctuary?" Axton and Zer0 said nothing but shook their heads in embarrassment and nodded.  
"Oooh!" Claptrap squealed with glee. "Hello, two new minions! Welcome to our team! I am your glorious leader Claptrap!" The yellow robot carried on with his lengthy introduction. "How have you not shot this thing already?" She asked.  
"Believe me," Axton groaned, "we wanted to." Claptrap had meanwhile moved on from his introduction and turned his focus on to the door before before them. He began cursing the non-computerized lock when he had an idea.  
"Minion! Get on that cannon!" He commanded.  
"Which one?" Zer0 asked in an annoyed tone of voice.  
"Any one!" Claptrap cheerily responded.  
"Volunteers to blow something up?" Axton asked aloud.  
"Me!" Salvador scrambled to the seat of the cannon. Everyone else just shrugged and stepped away from the door Claptrap remained at. Claptrap began to instruct Salvador to fire at the gate but only when he left, then proceeded to repeat the instructions in an over-elaboration.  
"Shouldn't someone shut him up so Salvador can fire the cannon already?" Maya asked.  
"Better idea." Axton grinned evilly. He spoke into his ECHO. "Whenever you're ready, Sal."  
"Finally!" Salvador exclaimed and fired at will. The gate smashed to pieces. Claptrap went flying, screaming all the way. The Vault Hunters stood there and laughed for a bit before Maya brought them back to reality. "We should probably go after him, right?" She asked.  
"Yeah, I guess so." Axton answered, reluctantly. "Alright, guys. Let's get our annoying robot back."

 **Author's Note: And there you have it! Hope you guys liked the chapter along with the reintroduction of Maya and Salvador. Hope you also don't mind that I'm skipping over the side missions a bit. I'll focus on a few later on, but for now we're just going to skip and reference. Also still trying to figure out Krieg's intro to the story. I have Gaige but I need to Krieg! Please comment your ideas. Only rule is it MUST be after Captain Flynt. Thanks! See you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hey-O! I'm sorry for the long wait, but this semester has been a killer for me. Try writing a 15 page paper on Franz Kafka with relation to Freud without having your brain fry. I dare you. Yes, you sitting there. No, there, not there. Look where I'm pointing. Regardless, I've finally completed this next exciting chapter! Get ready for thrills! Laughs! And explosions! P.S. if you can't handle the intense explosions, I recommend you not read this chapter as it may become too violently hilarious. Any who enjoy! I do not own Borderlands.**

Flynt's Bandits came bursting through the big hole in the gate, ready to get Vault Hunter blood on their buzzaxes, only to be blasted away by Zer0 who was still in the cannon's seat. "Okay," Axton called out, "I think that's the last of them. Let's keep going." The others nodded and grabbed whatever ammo and loot they could find off the corpses. They came around a pass to see a sort of ice valley and beyond that was a huge ship with a dragon for a figurehead that was breathing fire. "Whoa. That's his ship?" Axton asked in awe. "This makes every annoying thing he's done totally worth it!" Maya began fiddling with her ECHO device to try and reach Claptrap so they could find him.  
"Hello?" She called out. "Can you read me, Claptrap? Where are you?"  
"And what is your past/ With Captain Flynt and his crew?/ They seem to hate you." Zer0 added.  
"So…" Claptrap awkwardly responded, "I might have tried to stage a mutiny on Captain Flynt's ship before the flash-freeze, which explains why his men are currently beating the crap out of me. Right, guys?" The sounds of bandits telling him to shut up and robot body parts being pounded on by clubs could be heard.  
"Crap." Axton muttered. "We're on our way, Clap." The Vault Hunters made their way down the path towards the other end of the valley underneath the huge ship.

"Heads up, amigos!" Salvador called up. "We got Rakk incoming." The Vault Hunters looked up to where he was pointing to see four or five bat-like creatures diving down towards them. Axton dodged one's dive and shot at it with his handgun. He turned to see Maya had captured two of them in a phaselock and Sal and Zer0 were shooting down the last two. Axton walked over to Maya's purple bubble and raised his gun along with Maya's. They shot both Rakk at the same time.  
"So Claptrap's got new friends, huh?" Flynt's raspy voice taunted through their ECHOs. "I gotta say I missed the little hunk o' junk. The noises he made when we set him on fire… brings a tear to my eye."  
"… Can Claptrap even feel pain?" Maya asked aloud. Axton just shrugged.  
"If he does, he just seems to brush it off completely." He answered her. "Kinda like when I shoved him over a cliff, he didn't seem to mind." Maya was about to respond to this when the iron gate in front of them started to open.

The psychos on the other side pounded their buzzaxes into the ground like drumsticks, eager to crush the Vault Hunters into dust. The gate finally opened and they rushed out only to meet a dual-wielding dwarf and a portable turret gun. The bullets ripped them to pieces. The lookout who raised the gate saw this and aimed his sniper rifle at Sal's head. Suddenly a blade pierced through his back and out through his chest. A nearby bandit rushed over only to receive a kunai in his eye. The exploding kunai took him out while he screamed in pain. A group of bandits who heard the screams and deaths of their comrades, rushed out to take on the enemy, only to be sucked into a Siren's phaselock. They kicked and squirmed as they saw the four Vault Hunters calmly walk up to them, gun at the ready. Axton grinned before opening fire. _Not bad_ , he thought, _I could get used to being on a team_.  
The Vault Hunters walked through the remains of their onslaught, gun at the ready, as Flynt's raspy voice echoed all around them in pre-recorded messages through the loudspeakers. Axton ignored this and picked up some more ammo. He noticed a few guns lying in bandit blood, so he helped himself to some of them. When he was done, he looked up to see Maya glaring down at him. "What?" He raised his hands in surrender. "They're dead. Not like they need them." Maya continued to glare. "What?" Axton was getting a little scared now. He heard of the dangerous powers Sirens had and that Phaselock did not look comfortable.  
"I wanted the pistol." Maya finally grumbled. Axton looked down to see a incendiary pistol in his stash of loot.  
"That?" He picked it up. "Take it." He tossed it to Maya who caught it with glee. Then spun around and shot a midget who was sneaking up behind her. The midget burned like paper And screamed louder than a alarm clock.  
"Thanks." She said and walked away towards the others. Axton looked after her. Especially her ass. _Hot damn._ He thought, then shook himself out of it. He had more important things to worry about. Plus, he wasn't so sure this girl was the booty-call kind. He got up and followed after the others.

"Got a proposition for you all." Flynt's voice came through their ECHOs. "You guys and Clappy become our personal torture buddies for life, and we won't kill ya!"  
"Seriously?" Zer0 said without emotion or a hint of humor.  
"Think it over. Take yer time." Flynt signed off. The Vault Hunters decided to ignore this and move on. They came to a part of an old steel ship bent ver on the side to form a bridge. Once crossing under it, a marauder jumped down and blasted them with a shotgun. Salvador's shield took the fall, enraging Sal and making the marauder suddenly wish he was dead. Wish granted. Two psychos jumped out from behind a hut and ran towards the group, dodging bullets as they strafed left and right. Axton gave up trying to shoot them when they got too close, and brought out his hatchet. He slammed the blade into one's face while the other got impaled by Zer0's katana. Another bandit had jumped down from the bridge onto Axton's back. Maya zapped him with a miniature phaselock orb.

"Ow! Guys, you don't have to beat me up, we can talk this through right?" Claptrap's voice could be heard nearby. Zer0, who was in the lead, raised a gloved fist to halt the group. He raised two fingers and they crept forward slightly as Claptrap went into an explanation of why the bandits shouldn't beat him up, but ultimately decided that it would be fine if they did since he didn't feel any pain. And that's when Salvador shot the marauder in the back with a shotgun. "Suck it, Flynt!" Claptrap yelled in victory. "My new minions are bonafide badasses!" He turned to face his "minions" who weren't exactly looking like they preferred that title. Mostly Salvador who growled and began to point his shotgun towards the robot until Maya gently pushed it down.

"Follow me!" Claptrap exclaimed and wheeled forward. He led the others to a big open area with stair that led up to the giant ship they saw earlier. "With you minions on my side," Claptrap proclaimed, "there's nothing that can stop us- OH MY GOD WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" He then went into what Axton was now calling coward mode. Axton sighed and threw out the missus. His turret landed in the middle of the group of bandits that had just, foolishly, tried to ambush them. His turret began to mow down the bulk of the group, and Axton decided to help by picking off survivors. He was quickly joined by Zer0's sniper rifle. Soon the Vault Hunters were surrounded by dead bandits. Again. Claptrap jumped up and began leading everyone up to the ship, only to be stopped by the most formidable obstacle. "STAIRS?! I can't climb stairs!" Claptrap complained. He then spotted a platform connected to a crane. "You guys go on and find the controls. Don't worry about me. Standing and doing nothing is one of my primary functions."  
"Of course it is." Axton grumbled and reloaded his assault rifle "Let's head up." He announced. The Vault Hunters began climbing the stairs and passageways of the old wreck of a steel ship, killing whatever bandits came through. Most of them were finished off quickly by Maya's Phaselock combined with Salvador's duel wielding, or Gunzerking as Sal yelled in Axton's face when he called it anything but that. They finally came to a control system which lifted the platform Claptrap was patiently waiting on. Though when he was brought up, Axton was tempted to kick him back over.

Claptrap led the way through the conveniently placed, and somewhat wobbly, ramps that led onto the dragon ship. "I wonder how we're gonna get this thing into the water from here." Axton wondered aloud.  
"Maybe explosions/ Will blow up what's underneath/ And set us adrift." Zer0 offered. They came to what looked like a vending machine with a picture of a gun on the front. Axton went up to the "Marcus Munitions" machine and slid in some cash and made a selection. A shotgun popped out of the slot. "Remember, no refunds!" The machine sang. The Vault Hunters then dropped onto the deck to be surrounded by furnace vents popping out of the deck's surface. They made their way towards a towering structure on the ship, which Axton guessed was where the control room was. At the very top sat a large man covered in metal plates and spikes, and sported a horned helmet with grates for a faceplate. "Come on out Flynt!" Claptrap challenged. "Your Claptrap unit has returned!" With that the large man stood up and raised an assault rifle in one hand and an anchor in the other.  
"It's our new torture dolls, boys!" Flynt roared with madness. He raised the anchor as a signal for battle. "Let's turn up the heat! Burn, baby, burn!" Flames erupted from the furnace vents around the Vault Hunters. Shielding his eyes from the intense heat, Axton looked to see psychos and marauders heading their way.  
"Incoming!" He shouted so the others could hear him. "Spread out and flank them!" Claptrap ran like a madman apologizing to Flynt out of cowardly fear. Axton sighed and strafed to the right, shooting as he went. He ducked behind a barrier and saw Salvador sitting next to him, guns at the ready. He turned to the left to see Maya and Zer0 shooting from their cover. Axton grabbed his turret's box, stood up, and began firing away. He quickly threw out the turret before ducking down for cover again. He turned to Salvador who was just staring at him. "Were we supposed to do that together?" He asked, confused.  
"Yes!"Axton exclaimed, bewildered that Salvador would even ask such a question. Sal just shrugged with acceptance and took position. He stood up along with Axton and began to fire away. Axton saw Flynt coming their way, slowly. "Aim for Flynt!" He shouted, and the two focused their fire on the hulking bandit boss. As Flynt lumbered forward, ignoring the bullets, Axton put his hand to his ECHOs comms channel, which was just over his ear. "Maya, can you Phaselock him?" He shouted over the battle.  
"No, he's too big!" Maya shouted back through the comms. She looked over to the boys and her eyes widened in surprise. "Look out!" She cried. Axton looked up in time to see Flynt with his anchor raised above his head. Axton and Salvador jumped out the way just in time. Axton landed to the side, only to have Flynt follow him. Axton looked down to see his large feet move slowly towards him. An idea formed.  
"Zer0!" Axton yelled into the comms. "Gonna need you to go predator! Maya! Can you Phaselock someone else and throw them at Flynt's feet?" Maya responded by Phaselocking a nearby bandit and tossing him like a rag doll at Flynt's legs. Flynt tumbled from the sudden weight. Salvador, seeing an opportunity, began Gunzerking shotguns, causing Flynt to fall over, squashing the bandit Maya threw at him. Zer0 then appeared behind him and landed on his back, katana thrust downward. Flynt howled in pain, and looked up to see the business end of Axton's shotgun. "Hi." He grinned and pulled the trigger.

"Booyah!" Claptrap yelled in victory at the corpse of his former tormentor. "You guys are the most fearsome warriors this glacier has ever seen!" Axton reached down and picked up a shiny red pistol that Flynt had dropped. "Hey! That's Flynt's Tinderbox!" Claptrap exclaimed. "Why he used to torture me with- Ahhh memories. Oh well! All in the past! Let's board my ship!" Axton stood up and marveled at the handiwork of the Vault Hunters. _I guess Sarah had a point. Being a part of a team might actually work out._ He held out Flynt's Tinderbox.  
"Couldn't have done it without you guys, I guess." He started. Axton realized he wasn't very good at sharing the credit. "So, uh, here. Up for grabs."  
"Mine!" Salvador lunged for it, only to have Maya swipe it away.  
"You've got enough guns, Sal." She chided. "It's my turn to keep the loot."  
"Aw, c'mon!" Salvador complained. "It's an incendiary pistola! I want one!"  
"You'll get the next one." Maya responded before realizing that the gun was no longer in her hand. "Hey!" She turned to Zer0 who sported a :) on his visor.  
"You already have one." He pointed out.  
"So?" She snapped. "Elemental weapons are my thing!"  
"How about sharing?"  
"Ugh, fine!" Maya stormed off.  
"You know, on second thought, maybe I should have kept the gun." Axton mused. Zer0 tossed it back to him.  
"If she'd let me/ I would have said it is yours/ Your lead killed our foe." Zer0 shrugged.  
"Yeah, I guess so." Maya agreed from a distance where she apparently could still hear.  
"Nice job, hombre!" Salvador slapped Axton's back, causing him to stumble forward in pain.  
"If I'd have known you guys would've just let me keep the gun," Axton marveled, "I would've kept the credit too!" He began to cackle much to Maya's annoyance.  
"Hey! Don't be an asshole!" She yelled after him.

After another argument and shouting match, the Vault Hunters composed themselves and went after Claptrap towards the other end of the ship. He opened the door for them and led the way through the tower. "So, Clap," Axton said, "how're we getting this big ass ship into the water?"  
"This ship?" Claptrap repeated in confusion. "We're not taking this ship. We're taking my equally badass boat!" Claptrap opened the door in a dramatic fashion. "Ta-da!" The Vault Hunters looked to see a tiny boat that looked like it would sink once it was loaded into the water. "There she is! My mighty vessel! Lower her into the water, ye salty dogs!"  
"Can we kill him now? Axton groaned.  
"I think I might actually agree with you." Maya responded numbly before getting on the ship.  
"Set sail for Sanctuary!" Claptrap blew the horn. _This is gonna be a long trip._

 **Author's Note: And off to Sanctuary we go! I know I wrote Maya's personality as a bit more childish than she normally is, but I just thought that would've fit with the comedy of the chapter. Don't worry, she won't act like that again. Gaige will have that role. Moreover, Axton was written a bit more noble than I had anticipated, so to help with character development, I turned him into an ass once again. Yippee! Speaking of, we will soon be introducing the two remaining Vault Hunters! I think I've got Krieg figured out, but I'm not entirely sure if he should come to Sanctuary with everyone right away. A lot of you are keen to see him in prison for some reason. Comment on what you think Krieg's fate/intro should be! See you next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Hey-O! I'm sorry for the long wait, but this semester has been a killer for me. Try writing a 15 page paper on Franz Kafka with relation to Freud without having your brain fry. I dare you. Yes, you sitting there. No, there, not there. Look where I'm pointing. Regardless, I've finally completed this next exciting chapter! Get ready for thrills! Laughs! And explosions! P.S. if you can't handle the intense explosions, I recommend you not read this chapter as it may become too violently hilarious. Any-who enjoy! I do not own Borderlands.**

Axton struggled to lift himself off of the boat's edge. _When did I even eat carrots?_ He thought. Axton didn't normally get seasick. Hell, he'd been on dozens of missions for Dahl that required him to go by boat. The real problem here was Claptrap. Again. _I'm going to kill that little robot._ Axton grimaced for the twentieth time on this boat ride, leaned over and heaved again. This dinghy of a boat may belong to Claptrap, but that certainly didn't mean the annoying yellow robot knew how to drive. He kept moving from left to right and right to left, and he purposefully wanted to ride the big waves because "there was no there way to drive this awesomely!" Axton pinched the bridge of his nose and went back inside to find Maya and Zer0 playing cards. Salvador, like Axton, was also having trouble with the boat's rocky movements, plus he'd never been at sea before. That combination did not bode well for his lunch. In the entire fifteen hour trip, Maya had only gotten sick twice. Zer0 must have some sort of filter in his mask or something because he just sat calmly while the rest of the team got sick. "Been feeding the fish again?" Maya teased politely as Axton slowly took a seat next to them. "I figured they could use some of my lunch." He responded. "I wasn't keeping it." He checked his watch. "How much longer till we get there?" Zer0 shrugged.  
"When I last asked/ The robot wasn't too sure/ And made a fart noise." The ninja responded.  
"Lovely." Maya frowned. She turned on her ECHO. "Angel, you know how much longer it'll be. We can't take Claptrap's antics any longer."  
"According to my GPS," Angel said, "you should be hitting land-" Suddenly the entire boat lurched forward as if it hit something. The three Vault Hunters went flying into the wall. The window behind them crashed and Salvador came flying in. He landed on top of Axton. "right about now." Angel finished.  
"Thanks, Angel." Axton groaned in pain. At least the dizziness had stop. He and the others got to their feet and walked outside to see an icy landscape, not unlike the one they had left behind.  
"We're near Sanctuary, buddies." Claptrap announced. "You go on ahead. Tell the locals what we'll require for my 'welcome back' party. I'll stay here and give them time to get what we need."

As Claptrap rambled off things he needed, the Vault Hunters looked up at the sound of a roaring engine. They saw a vehicle zoom over a bridge and fired missiles to blow it up. "Sanctuary's off limits." A voice called out through the ECHO channel. "You Bloodshots can stay in your hole." This proved to be a pointless taunt because another vehicle went zooming over the makeshift ramp, giving chase. "I SEE YOU!" A scream echoed through the tundra. "Awesome." The first driver sighed as he sped away. The two vehicles taunted each other and the sound of gunfire could be heard over the ECHO public channel.  
"Think we're close?" Axton asked, still looking up.  
"I didn't think Pandora would be this dangerous." Maya responded, a note of concern in her voice.  
"Pandora is a violent and dangerous place, Maya." Angel answered swiftly.  
"And Sancturay?"  
"Slightly less so." Angel hesitated. Maya just frowned. "You'll need a car to reach the city gate. Get to the Catch-A-Ride."  
"Catch what?" Axton asked, but was instantly cut off by the sound of animal roars.  
"We've got bullymongs, hermanos!" Salvador yelled as he pulled out a Torgue shotgun. The ferocious beasts lumbered forward, throwing rocks and banging their chests. Maya threw out a phaselock while Zer0 and Axton kept the other one busy with gunfire. Salvador ran up and shot the phaselocked bullymong, and ran forward to take point. "They're crawling out of the walls like arañas!" Salvador shouted, this time dual-wielding his shotguns and firing like a madman.  
"Like what?" Axton yelled, running forward and stabbing one with the bayonet of his assault rifle before pulling the trigger.  
"Spiders!" Maya answered as she fired away with her SMG. She looked around. "Where's-" Three bullymongs in front of her were suddenly cut in half. Zer0 appeared next to them, a 0 showing up on his visor. "Never mind."  
"You get used to it." Axton spoke up. Salvador shot the last bullymong standing and the Vault Hunters walked forward to see a few vending machines and some sort of machine that had two pads next to it.

When they came closer, Axton could make out the words "Catch-A-Ride!" Then the machine screamed it, startling him.  
"This machine will digitally construct a vehicle for you." Angel said. "Give it a try."  
"Okay." Axton responded. He went over and clicked the holographic button to let him access the machine.  
"Whoa!" The machine screamed in a voice that sounded like some sort of redneck. "Unauthorized user up in my grill! You trying to hack my Catch-A-Ride? Uncool, bro."  
"Well, that was unexpected." Axton said, taking a step back.  
"Damn." Angel cursed. "Uh, I mean darn. I can't hack the machine because it doesn't have an Hyperion adapter."  
"Where can we find one?" Asked Zer0.  
"Lucky for you, there's one nearby." Angel said. "In that bandit camp right over there." The Hunters turned to see a small bandit camp right around the corner.  
"Crap." Axton cursed. "I'm low on ammo."  
"Me too." Said Maya. Salvador cursed in Spanish while Zer0 simply sported a :( on his visor. "That bullymong fight must have taken a lot out of us."  
"We might be able to get more ammo in the camp," Axton surmised, "but that means we have to be able to kill them first."  
"Don't worry." Angel said. "I'm sending you some help. Get a head start in the meantime." Axton grinned.  
"Okay. Let's kill some bandits."

The Vault Hunters ran forward into the camp. Axton threw out his turret and fired his pistol at a barrel with antennae sticking out of it. The result was an electrified explosion that shocked several bandits. Maya phaselocked two bandits at once and Salvador opened fire with the help of Maya's ammo. Zer0 went invisible and sliced through two bandits before revealing himself. There still were some more bandits, including a big armored one, that were opening fire on the Vault Hunters, pinning them down. All of a sudden Axton heard a someone call out. "It's cool everybody. I'm here!" The sound of something digistructing could be heard nearby. A giant floating robot appeared out of nowhere flew over the Vault Hunters' heads. Digistructed laser-like claws came out of its hands and went to work slashing bandits left and right. "Yeah! Kick 'em right in the pistons!" The voice called out.  
"That's our cue!" Axton yelled, signaling the other Vault Hunters. With a nod from everyone else, they all charged out into the fight. Axton threw a grenade out to a squad on the left that was being sucked into a pahselock by Maya. Zer0 went invisible and slashed bandits alongside the giant robot. Salvador went into a melee frenzy and began beating bandits to a bloody pulp. For some reason he was laughing hysterically in a way that caused a chill to go down everyone's spine. A nomad bandit lumbered over to Axton, who was trying to dodge the nomad's bullets. Axton flanked to the side and slammed his tomahawk into the nomad's side, but that seemed to just piss the bandit off. The nomad swung his branch-like arms into Axton and flung him across the camp. Axton began to pick himself up when the nomad came closer, sporting an SMG. "Time to die, midget lover!" The bandit screamed. He raised his gun, and then was shot down from the side.  
"Kablam!" Axton turned to see the voice of the person who saved his life. He was surprised to see a young redheaded girl wearing a skull hoodie, short skirt, knee-high socks, and a pair of goggles on her head. And had a freaking robotic prosthetic arm. All of the Vault Hunters were now looking at this twisted little girl that saved their lives. And had a giant floating robot standing idly next to her. "Oh yeah! That was awesome!" The girl squealed. "My first real life gun battle and I freaking nailed it! I mean, that was my first time killing anyone since Marcie and that was accidental (kinda), but this was the real deal! OMG I cannot wait to tell this all to my subscribers! That freaky A.I. was right sending me here!" The girl began to jump up and down as if she just got a Christmas present. "And who saved the Vault Hunters? Me! Oh, yeah!" She turned to the Vault Hunters. "I say MECHRO, you say MANCER. MECHRO!" Nobody said anything. They all just stared in disbelief. The girl's smile disappeared. "Well, you guys suck."  
"Time out." Axton finally said, getting to his feet. "Who are you? How did you get here?"  
"How old are you?" Maya chimed in.  
"And what the hell is that?" Salvador pointed to the robot.  
"Oh, right. Manners." The girl smiled sheepishly. She removed her goggles and lowered them down to her neck. "Well, I'm Gaige. Sup? I'm what you call a Mechromancer. Mostly because I made up the word. Duh! I'm a super genius science whiz, and I'm 18 thank you very much!" She gestured affectionately to the floating robot. "And this here is Deathtrap, my beloved creation. I call him DT for short. He's built to be a peacekeeping robot, but he's mainly my robot bae that protects me and stuff. My personal BFF bodyguard. But enough of that later. I'm here because this creepy lady somehow hacked into my ECHO- gonna have to figure out how she did that one later- and sent me here through the planet's fast travel network. Which wasn't easy to get to y'know. I was already hiding in a train that I stowed away in, and all of a sudden BAM! Hacker lady- or Angel- surprises the hell out of me. Let me tell you, that was an interesting experience with security. But enough about me, you guys are Vault Hunters too, right? We should tots team up!" Everyone just stared throughout Gaige's entire speech. Axton has never heard anyone talk so much before.  
"Is this her, Angel?/ The one you sent to help us?/ She is very young." Zer0 spoke into the ECHO comms.  
"Yes, this is her." Angel answered. "I discovered her on her own and sent her to link up with you guys to find the Vault and stop Jack. I understand she is young, but you all can help her and work as a team." Great, Axton thought, more team stuff to get used to.  
"Uh, mechro-girl." "Gaige." She corrected.  
"Right, sorry." Axton cleared his throat. "You said you're a science whiz. Can you help us and Angel hack into the Catch-A-Ride? We need vehicles."  
"Oh, sure! No problem!" Gaige answered gleefully.

The Vault Hunters found the Hyperion robot Angel mentioned and Gaige stripped its adapter from its core. Angel said just to attach the adapter on and they'd get free cars. Everyone checked the bandits' bodies and containers for ammo and loot before heading back. Gaige stepped up to the Catch-A-Ride and began installing the adapter with the aid of her tool belt and metal arm. "Um, Gaige?" Axton wasn't sure how to begin this conversation.  
"What's sup, commando?" Gaige responded, her full attention devoted to her work.  
"What's with the arm?" He asked cautiously.  
"Thank you!" Salvador exclaimed as if it was a load off his chest. "Finally someone asks!"  
"Was there an accident or something?" Maya asked, ignoring Salvador's behavior.  
"Eh, kinda." Gaige shrugged. "I cut it by accident when I was building DT."  
"You had to get it amputated? For infection or something?" Axton nearly gagged. He'd seen amputees in the service, but he'd never imagine it having to happen to a little girl.  
"No." Gaige answered distractedly as she screwed a bolt in. "I chopped it off."  
"WHAT?!"  
"I needed a better interface to communicate with DT and what better receptor than my arm? Duh." Gaige finished installing the adapter, oblivious to the stares from the others. "All done!"  
"This chica is muy loco." Salvador whispered. A "WTF" flashed across Zer0's visor.  
"Executing phase shift." Angel announced. The machine buzzed for a moment before a voice announced that it was no longer on lockdown, leaving open to Angel's hack.  
"Authorized user accepted." The redneck voice came up again. "Enjoy the ride and there's a Pimento Taco- a Pimentaco- in the glove box."  
"Cool." Angel sounded pleased. "Try requesting your cars." Axton clicked the holographic image again and this time an options screen came up. The only choice was a light runner, either with guns or rockets. He chose one with guns and clicked "OK". The light runner he chose digistructed on the pad in front of the machine.  
"Catch-A-Ride beyotch!" The redneck voice screamed.  
"Real charmer, that one." Angel commented. "You should now be able to register a vehicle from any Catch-A-Ride on Pandora."  
"Sweet!" Axton whistled. "Looks like a two-seater. Let's get a few more and we'll be set."  
"Awesome!" Gaige said. "So you guys gonna tell me who you are yet, or what?"

Axton climbed into the driver seat of his car while Zer0 took the gunner seat. Maya and Gaige teamed up in another car because she wasn't comfortable having Gaige in the same proximity as the guys at her age, which Gaige just grumbled at. Salvador got his own car, which he proceeded to do donuts with, until the others got his attention by jumping over the ramp with the cars' boosters. All three cars were over the ramp, and on the way to Sanctuary with the help of Angel. "Drive to Sanctuary and meet Roland." She told them as they drove through a tunnel filled with bullymongs- or "targets" as Salvador and Gaige put it. "He'll want to meet the Vault Hunters who stared down Handsome Jack and lived." The Vault Hunters continued to drive (smash) their way through the bullymongs, and shooting at any moving target.  
"Sometimes I envy you bandits." The douchebag voice of Handsome Jack came over their ECHOs. "You're so… unburdened with things like intelligence, culture, morality, honor, good looks… I could go on, but I won't. But I could."  
"What a jackass." Gaige commented when Jack signed off.  
"I think we'll get along just fine, Gaige." Axton grinned.  
"Ah! Dignity!" Jack came on again. "I almost forgot to mention dignity!" The sound of a horse could be heard in the background.

The Vault Hunters made it out of the tunnels and drove to Sanctuary only to discover bandits camped outside, trying to get in and cursing the guards. "Light 'em up." Axton said. But nothing happened. "Uh, guys?"  
"A please wouldn't kill you." Maya said, dryly.  
"Please." Axton sighed.  
"With pleasure." Gaige happily responded. Soon the entire entrance was painted with bandit blood. "Gotta love these vehicle guns." Gaige cheered. Axton got out of his runner and went up to a comm system on the door.  
"Hello?" He called into the receiver.  
"You're never getting into Sanctuary, you Bloodshot skaglicks!" A voice responded.  
"Harsh." Zer0 commented. "Hold up." The voice said, surprised. "You're Vault Hunters. Just a sec, Roland wanted to talk to you! Lemme ECHO him!"  
"How does Roland know who we are?" Maya asked.  
"I told him." Angel answered. "I was the one who led the last group of Vault Hunters, so I was able to contact Roland and tell him of your arrival and experience with Handsome Jack. Although we haven't spoken much since the fall of Fyrestone. Crimson Raider chatter has gone down significantly since then."  
"Ah, so you're the ones I've been hearin' all this radio chatter about." A voice came through their ECHOs. "Name's Roland. Used to be a Vault Hunter like you, until I formed the Crimson Raiders. We'll catch up when I get back to Sanctuary. For now, I need your help."  
"What can we do you for?" Axton asked.  
"My men tell me Corporal Reiss hasn't returned the power core that we need to keep the city's shields running. Bring Reiss back to Sanctuary and you'll have earned your places in the Raiders."  
"Here we go again." Salvador said, loading up his shotguns.

It took some time, but the Vault Hunters finally managed to find Reiss based on his ECHO's GPS signal. As they drew near, Reiss cried out in pain for help on a public channel. Roland contacted the Vault Hunters immediately and told them to back Reiss up against the bandits since they were spread thin already and couldn't send reinforcements. But by the time they got there, Reiss was on the ground being torn apart by bandits. "Let's go!" Axton threw out his turret while Gaige summoned Deathtrap to help. There were about three bandits and one gigantic one, probably the size of their runner. The three went down easily enough, but the badass one was tougher than that. Zer0's sword only scratched the big psycho. Finally, Salvador took him out when his shotguns. As he went down, Axton and Gaige went to help Reiss up, but it was too late. "Vault Hunters?" He coughed. "Didn't think I rated that much of a rescue. One of those psychos ran off with the power core. Without it Sanctuary will be defenseless. Get that core back to Sanctuary." He coughed again, this time on Axton's arm. "I'm just gonna take a nap. Wake me up when I'm not on Pandora anymore." Zer0 reached down and checked his pulse. A :( showed up on his visor. Gaige sniffled and Salvador grunted. Maya put a hand to her mouth in shock.  
"Crap." Axton cursed. He stood up, wiped the blood off his arm, and touched his comm. "Roland. Reiss didn't make it and the bandits stole the core."  
"Reiss is dead?" Roland answered in shock. "He was one of the first Crimson Lancemen I recruited to the Raiders… Get that power core back. And while you're at it, kill some bandits for Reiss. It's what he would've wanted." Roland ended with conviction.  
"No arguments here." Axton confirmed. He looked over to see Maya still staring at Reiss's body. "Hey, it'll be okay." He reached out to comfort her, but she recoiled.  
"I'm fine." She snapped. "Let's go kill some bandits."  
"Don't need to tell me twice, chica." Salvador said.

The Vault Hunters tracked the bandits to a small bandit camp. This camp, however, was overflowing with bandits. "Should we have a plan of attack?" Axton asked. "Or should we-"  
"Two guns, bitches!" Salvador screamed as he dual wielded assault rifles. Gaige just shrugged and followed after, summoning Deathtrap for help. Axton looked at the remaining two Vault Hunters who in turned shrugged, and all three ran into the camp, guns blazing. Zer0 immediately went to climbing the giant treehouse-like structure that was built in the camp, and used his incredible speed and agility to run around with ease and kill bandits. Salvador took on groups at a time, with Gaige providing backup, and Deathtrap covering the rest of them. Axton jumped over a bandit and shot downward with his pistol in midair. With his other hand, he slammed the blade of his tomahawk into a psycho's face. He holstered his pistol and brought out his Torgue assault rifle and began to blow bandits up with high-speed exploding bullets. He looked over to see Maya taking out a ton of bandits with her SMG and rounding up the ones she didn't hit with her phaselock. Suddenly, Axton noticed a nomad bandit sneaking up behind her. Axton ran over to help, but before he could call out. A maniacal scream rang out that caused everyone to stop what they were doing in confusion. "I'M CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!" Axton saw a badass psycho headed right for Maya. This one seemed different from the rest in his movements. Axton raised his gun, but Maya suddenly called out "Axton! Don't!" The badass psycho came closer and closer, and without warning leapt over Maya and tackled the nomad. The psycho brought out a buzzaxe and proceeded to hack the nomad to death. When he finished, he looked up at Maya rather calmly. Then without warning he screamed, and ran off out of sight. All the Vault Hunters just stared.  
"Maya?" Axton ran up to her. "Did that psycho just save you? Voluntarily?"  
"Y-yes." Maya seemed just as shocked as Axton. "I didn't think he'd-"  
"You know that guy?" Gaige asked incredulously.  
"Not really." Maya answered. "I met him before I got on the train. He saved me from a bunch of bandits that were at the station. Of course, at the time I thought he was an enemy so I started shooting him. He still helped me. I didn't think he would have followed me all this way." Axton didn't know how to take this. He wasn't jealous or anything, but the fact that a bandit, a psycho no less, was following Maya and saving her from peril didn't sit right with him. He shook his head and changed the subject.  
"Did anyone find the-"  
"Found it." Zer0 appeared next to him out of thin air, holding the power core. Gaige, who had never seen Zer0's deception mode jumped three feet while the rest of the Vault Hunters merely flinched a little.  
"Oh. My. God." She drooled. "You HAVE to teach me how you do that! I can already see the invisibility designs for Deathtrap. He'd be awesome!" As Gaige started pegging Zer0 for questions he wouldn't answer, Axton gave Roland a call.  
"Hey, Roland. We've got your power core."  
Great." Roland sounded pleased. "Jack won't destroy Sanctuary today, at least. Get back to the city. We'll meet up once I get there. Welcome to the Crimson Raid- Ah, dammit." Sounds of gunfire could be heard through the ECHO. "I'm being attacked! I'll see-" The comms went dead.  
"That doesn't sound good." Gaige said, concerned. "We'd better get back to Sanctuary and tell someone, fast." Axton nodded.  
"Okay, grab whatever you can carry and let's hightail it." He said. Gaige immediately zipped off to find the "purple rocks" she found in the carnage earlier. Axton went over to Maya who was still staring at the spot the psycho was standing in before. "Maya? You okay?"  
"Yeah." Maya shook herself out of her trance and smiled. "I'm just fine. Let's get going." Axton watched her walk off. _This oughta be fun_ , he thought.

 **Author's Note: Hey guys! Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait, but as I said this semester has been a killer, especially with summer internships and crap coming up. I hate being responsible. Anyway, I finally introduced Gaige and Krieg. Don't worry he'll be back and in greater numbers (just kidding, but he will be back). You also may have noticed the little emotion I've put between Axton and Maya. I want to have Axton with somebody (he is the title character, after all), but I'm trying to decide who with. Part of me wants Maya, but I'd like to hear your opinions. Oh and BTW I will imply Maya/Krieg either way, just know that it won't be for long. Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter up sooner, but for now please enjoy this extra long chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Hey guys! It was kinda by luck that I was able to get this chapter done this month, but I'm hoping that my luck won't run out soon. In response to some of the suggestions for romance, I'm open to suggestions as long as you explain it to me so I can get a feel for it. I'm already leaning in a certain direction, but you might change my mind (or reinforce it, who knows?) Comment and let me know what you guys think. I do not own Borderlands. Enjoy!**

The ride back to Sanctuary was awkward, to say the least. Axton was thankful that Gaige was such a chatterbox, otherwise they would have ridden in complete silence. Well, silence as well as Handsome Jack's continued taunts to the Vault Hunters as well as some secret he was keeping from them. The Vault Hunters elected to ignore this and instead focused on Salvador running over any bullymong he saw. Axton glanced over to Maya's runner as they sped along. She wasn't in the mood to talk, he understood, but she sported a troubled look on her face. Who was that psycho? "We're here." Zer0 announced, snapping Axton back to reality so he wouldn't crash into the wall. Axton jumped out of his runner and the others followed suit. Gaige went up and pressed the intercom.  
"Roland? Is that you?" The voice on the other end asked in desperation. "Oh, it's the Vault Hunters. Get in quick! Roland's ECHO communicator went dead. We need your help."  
"No duh." Gaige commented as the gates opened. Everyone went inside to an open courtyard. On the left was another gate that seemed to lead into the town, while a guard's tower was on the right.  
"Made it to Banditville, huh?" Jack chuckled. Well done! It'll be nice to see a friendly face when I'm burning that place to the ground. Oh, and I've decided to tell you my secret later on. Once you've earned it."  
"Up yours." Salvador grumbled.  
"…. Seriously, I need to get this thing fixed! I want to hear your pathetic retorts! Where the hell is my maintenance staff?!"  
"Well, sir, you killed them and their families because they didn't shine the floor well enough to see your reflection." A nervous voice responded on the other end.  
"Oh yeah." Jack realized. "Hire new ones. Now. Catch you guys later."

Moving on, the Vault Hunters headed towards the guard tower first. As they got closer, they could make out a generator and antenna that appeared to be powering the giant dome around them. Axton looked around to see a force field surrounding the entire city. Must take a lot of juice to make this thing run, he thought. A guard was standing next to the machine when he noticed them. "You're the ones Roland was talking about." He exclaimed. "The ones who faced Jack and lived! Look, we need your help, bad, but first things first. Plug that power core into the shield generator."  
"On it!" Gaige volunteered. She went over and grabbed the old power core and yanked it out. She immediately jammed the new one in with precision and care. Sparks flew above them, and Axton looked up in time to see the shield regenerate and fully cover the town. Just in time for a barrage of missiles to hit Sanctuary from the giant H satellite that hovered above the planet.  
"Good. That'll last us a day or two." The guard stated. "Now what?" Salvador asked.  
"Well, Roland was supposed to bring us some intel on how to stop Jack. With him missing, we really need your help. Talk to Private Jessup at the gate, he'll let you into the city."

As the guard barked orders into his comms, the Vault Hunters began making their way towards the city entrance. "What do you think happened to Roland?" Maya asked.  
"Nothing good." Axton answered. "That gunfire we heard on the other end didn't sound very gentle."  
"Bandit weaponry/ Two shotguns and a rifle/ No handguns for sure." Zer0 said all of a sudden.  
"You got all of that from the sound of gunfire?" Gaige asked incredulously.  
"It was very distinctive gunfire." Zer0 responded cooly.  
"Wait a minute." Salvador scratched his head. "That wasn't one of your funny poem-" Salvador was cut off by the sound of explosions all around them. The Vault Hunters looked up to see mortar shells exploding on the forcefield dome surrounding sanctuary. Every explosion caused a tiny tremor as the mortars caused ripple-effects all over the the forcefield's surface.  
"What's going on?" Gaige shouted above the din.  
"Hyperion moonshot blitz!" The guard shouted through their ECHOs. "Without that fresh core you brought, those lunar mortars would have punched right through the shield!" Within seconds, the moonshot blitz stopped as suddenly as it started. "Thank the Eridians you just got us that core, otherwise we'd be toast. Go into the city. It's time you see Sanctuary."

As the guard, Jessup, opened the gate, he told the Vault Hunters to meet with the town mechanic as per Roland's instructions since he hadn't returned yet. "Crap." Angel cursed all of a sudden.  
"Crap?" Gaige muttered in confusion.  
"Uh, I mean darn." Angel recovered. "Roland needs your help. Without you five, the Crimson Raiders don't stand a chance against Jack. Please find out where Roland has gone."  
"You got it." Axton confirmed and stepped into the city. What he saw was desolate buildings that looked sturdy, but at the same time looked like they could fall apart at any moment. The streets were dirty with mud and blood, and every citizen was armed to the teeth. It also looked kind of familiar somehow.  
"Sanctuary." Angel spoke in a proud voice. "Built on the ruins of the Dahl corporation's finest interplanetary mining ship, now the last refuge for thieves, murderers and outcasts. Welcome home."  
"Don't mind if I do, chicita!" Salvador laughed. Axton stood bug-eyed. He knew this city's layout looked familiar. So this was a piece of Dahl too, eh? If memory served it was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress capable of flight, so how did it end up here?

"This way." Maya pointed, snapping Axton out of it. She was pointing to a mechanic's shop that had a wheel on it, similar to the design of the Catch-A-Ride systems, and the name "Scooter's" in big letters. That must be where the mechanic is. The Vault Hunters walked through the door to find a scrawny looking guy slumped in a chair, covered in grease, and appeared to be fast asleep. Gaige coughed to get his attention. The mechanic looked up and saw her robotic arm. "Oh, crap. Is you Hyperion?" His voice was an exact match to the one from the Catch-A-Ride. "I heard all of you are robots and you eat metal and garbage and stuff." The Vault Hunters looked at each other in confusion. "Knew you wired death machines would come for me once Roland went missing." The mechanic picked up a monkey wrench lying next to him. "Now if you're here to kill me, you should probably know…" The mechanic jumped up with a start, waving his wrench in the air. "You'll never take me alive you robotic sumbitch! Catch-A-Ride!" And then he slipped and fell backwards.  
"I think this guy has some things in common with Claptrap." Axton whispered. Maya nudged him in the arm to shush him as the mechanic climbed back up.  
"Wait a minute." He said slowly before brightening up. "Well, hang me upside down from a telephone pole, cover me in honey, and leave me to a slow death at the hands of hungry spiderants! Y'all ain't no Hyperion robot, y'all are Vault Hunters! That's like a unicorn!" He drooled.  
"Uh-huh." Axton raised his eyebrow.  
"Um, so Scooter, right?" Gaige guessed.  
"You're right there, little missy!" Scooter exclaimed. "What can I do for y'all? I always wanted to help me some Vault Hunters but I never did. Well, except for the last four. But that was a long time ago. Plus I get bored."  
"Um, Roland?" Salvador hinted. Scooter's eyes went wide with recognition.  
"Oh, yeah! That! Haha I knew I was forgettin' something!" Zer0 showed a ":l" on his visor. "Now are y'all gonna help us out with this Roland situation? I heard them Crimson Raider dudes talkin' about it. Roland told me if he ever disappeared, I was supposed to initiate Plan B. Or as I like to call it, Plan-turn-this-city-into-a-floatin'-ass-fortress-of-airborne-awesomeness-B." Scooter snorted in laughter. "I got some fuel cells here, you'll need those, oh and I have some Eridium here, you'll need that too." He opened some cabinets holding the fuel cells and gave Axton a few bars of glowing purple rock.  
"Uh, what is this stuff?" Axton asked warily. He may not be afraid for life-and-death situations in combat, but he sure didn't want to get contaminated by some alien rock that may possibly be radioactive. Especially when it was in close proximity to his junk.  
"You don't know?" Scooter was flabbergasted. "That right there is Eridium! Purest stuff on Pandora since that first Vault opened. People mine it, cuz it's purple and stuff so it's worth a lot. Y'all can buy a lot of things with Eridium if cash can't cut it. I remember Lily used to do somethin' else with it, but bein' the gentleman I am, I never asked. Also she wouldn't tell me. Also she threatened me when I tried to look through her window. Yeah, good times." "But is it safe?" Axton asked, trying to fight the urge to hit Scooter to get him back into focus.

"Safe? Uh, yeah! I think so. Probably."

Hesitantly, Axton put the glowing purple bars into his storage deck as Gaige grabbed the fuel cells. "Head to the center o` town and plug those two fuel cells into the ignition primers." Scooter instructed.  
"Won't we need another one?" Gaige questioned.  
"Very ob-ser-vant, Miss Robot Arm." Scooter nodded. "That's why I gave y'all that there rid-rock. You can buy the last cell from Earl's black market. Careful though, Earl's crazy. He ate one of my cars once."  
"By ate, you don't mean?" Zer0 inquired before Scooter cut him off.  
"Yeah, the whole car." He shook his head. "Just, like, with a fork." The Vault Hunters looked at each other, unsure of how to process this until Maya broke the silence.  
"Okay, we have our instructions." She announced, getting everyone's attention. "Gaige, you and I will go and install those two fuel cells while Axton gets the third one from Earl."  
"What?" Axton looked up, startled. "Why me?"  
"You're the one carrying the Eridium." She pointed out. Fair point, but Axton wasn't keen on meeting a guy who ate a car with a fork.  
"I'll go with you, amigo." Salvador volunteered. "I want to see this car-eater for myself. Sounds fun."  
"I will go as well./ I, too, am interested/ in the car-eater." Zer0 raised his hand. "Let's see if he's a worthy challenge." Axton shrugged, silently glad to have backup and led the way as the team split up.

As soon as they left Scooter's, Jack came on the public network offering a reward to anyone who would turn the Vault Hunters in. "Um, should we be worried?" Gaige asked through their comms.  
"Don't worry." Private Jessup reached them on their ECHOs. "We hate Jack just as much as you do. No one will turn you in."  
"Cool." Gaige said, relieved.  
"Scooter," Maya said, "what's the plan exactly with these fuel cells?"  
"Well, pretty lady," Scooter said, "Roland said we gotta have an exit strategery in case he ever disappeared, hence all the fuel cells and whatnot. Bummer though, he really wanted to meet y'all. Raiders ain't gonna last without some new blood, and given how y'all shot them bandits up I'd say y'all and blood got an extra special relationship. Like cousins takin' a bath together." He chortled.  
"Ew." Gaige grimaced. Axton and the guys went up to a metal, reinforced door that Scooter identified as Crazy Earl's place. Axton rapped his knuckles on the door, and a rectangle slid over to reveal a pair of crazed eyes looking back at them.  
"Uh, hi?" Axton said, nervously.  
"Whatchu want?" Earl demanded.  
"We'd like to buy-" That was as far as Axton got.  
"If you got Eridium, then buy somethin' quick!" Earl commanded. "I'll even throw in this crap fuel cell with your purchase! Just touchin' it made two of my fingers rot off!"  
"… That works." Said Zer0.

Soon, Gaige had all three fuel cells installed in their respective ignition primer in the main square. "Hey, thanks for grabbin' all that stuff for me." Scooter said, appreciative. "Third degree burns are best taken in shifts." The sound of Scooter cracking his knuckles in anticipation could be heard through their comms. "Now to see the fruit of your loins, this city's gonna FLY!" The sound of engines starting up could be heard, and the ground beneath them began to rumble. The Vault Hunters looked to see the m=black monolith in the main square light up, and letters spelled out vertically lit up the word "Sanctuary". Suddenly, with one final shake, sparks flew on the ignition primers and the engines cut short, ending the ground rumbling. "Or not." Scooter said, sheepishly. "Damn."  
"Now what?" Axton asked, waving the smoke from his face.  
"Well, now we _really_ gotta find Roland." Scooter said.  
"How?" Maya asked.  
"You know what, maybe get to Roland's place." Scooter suggested. "Maybe he left a message there for y'all."  
"Why didn't we do that first?" Gaige asked, annoyed.

The Vault Hunters went to where the Crimson Raiders HQ was located in Sanctuary. A guard handed them a key to get in. Once inside, Axton found an ECHO device with a recording on it. "Hey, soldier, if you're hearing this I'm in trouble." Roland's recorded voice said. "Right now, you're the only thing standing between this city- hell, the whole planet- and Handsome Jack's army. I left info about my whereabouts in my safe. You can use it to store anything you need. This is your home now." Roland signed off and the ECHO went dead.  
"Upstairs then." Axton led the way to a massive safe next to a break room/conference room (it was hard to tell with the couch). Inside was another ECHO device.  
"Felt like it would have been easier to putt it all together." Gaige mumbled.  
"Si." Salvador agreed. "And less complex." Maya gave them a silencing glare as Axton opened the ECHO.  
"This is the Firehawk." A distorted voice came out. "Come to the Frostburn Canyon, or people will die."  
"Well, that's not good." Axton commented.  
"The Firehawk?!" Scooter yelped through their comms, making them jump. "You mean the mass-murderin' bounty hunter?!"  
"Uh, maybe?"  
"Oh, crap." Scooter said, distraught. "If the Firehawk's got him, Roland's in DEEP. You gotta get to Frostburn Canyon and rescue his ass!"  
"If Roland has been captured by the Firehawk, he's in danger." Angel switched on. "You're the only ones who can stop Jack, but Roland is the man with the plan, so to speak. He knows the best way to strike at Hyperion."  
"Gotcha." Axton confirmed. "Then we'll go rescue Roland. But first things first." He turned to the other Vault Hunters. "Let's rest up and restock before heading out."  
"Sounds like a plan, amigo!" Salvador grinned. "I saw a bar nearby, I'm gonna get me wasted. Adios!" Salvador headed out.  
"I guess we'll just take a breather then." Maya said. "I'm going to explore the town. You guys in?" Gaige and Zer0 nodded and left with Maya. Axton took the time to himself to sit down and think. _So this is a team, huh?_ He thought. _Not bad, but could use some work._ "Hey, Ax, you coming?" Maya called out.  
"Yeah. On my way."

 **Author's Note: Alright! So we're finally in Sanctuary! Next time we'll explore the town and its colorful citizens! Any suggestions that you have for romances, or the story in general, please feel free to put them in the comments. Only rule is that they can't deviate from the status quo of the characters and their personalities. See you soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I had a lot of fun with this chapter, so I hope you guys will enjoy it too! Writing for the citizens of Sanctuary was challenging, but definitely worth it. I do not own Borderlands. Enjoy!**

The town of Sanctuary, to Axton, was pretty quaint and peaceful. "Hey, you bastard!" A voice shouted. "Where d'you think you're going with my shield?" A few shots rang out followed by silence. Well, it was peaceful in comparison to the rest of Pandora.  
"Oh, that reminds me!" Gaige suddenly remembered as the town sheriff lazily went around asking whodunnit. "I want to get some new guns with the loot we scored from raiding that bandit camp."  
"That way." Zer0 pointed to a few crude signs that led downstairs to some kind of basement. At the bottom, which looked like a remodeled bank with a vault in the office and a big cashier sign, a man with a mohawk was handing a revolver to a fat, bearded man behind the counter.  
"Could I have a refund please?" The man asked, nervous. "This gun doesn't seem to work."  
"Hmmm, I don't know." The bearded man answered in a heavy Russian accent. He then grinned evil and shot the man's kneecap. "Looks like it works to me." He said calmly. He threw the gun at the man in pain and shouted "No Refunds!"  
"Right…" The man replied weakly, as he began to limp out of the basement. "Guess I'll go to Zed's."  
"Ah, customers!" The bearded man exclaimed as if nothing happened. "Come in! Come in and let me show you my wares!" The Vault Hunters nervously stepped forward over the pool of blood up to the counter. "Wait a moment… You're Vault Hunters! My favorite type of customers! What can I get for you? Shotguns? SMGs? Elemental?" He asked dramatically.  
"Elemental?" Maya perked up eagerly.  
"Elemental?" Gaige scratched her head with her robot arm. "You mean like, lasers and stuff?"  
"Lasers? Pha!" Marcus scoffed. Suddenly there was a look in his eye and he grinned, leaning closer. "If you all are gonna be a part of the Crimson Raiders, you'd better know how to use elemental weapons, don't you think? I've just got a crate of spanking-new Maliwan elemental weapons. Wanna help me test them out?" He said with a tempting tone.  
"What's the catch?" Axton asked suspiciously.  
"No catch, honestly." Marcus said with both hands in the air. "It's just free advertising. Plus you Vault Hunters are my best customers. You go through my guns like skags through a junk pile. I treat you right, you treat me right. With business! Come, let's go to my firing range." He gestured through the door to the Vault Hunters' right. Axton shrugged and followed everyone through to a big firing range. "Let's try out the fire weapon first." He handed a gun out which Zer0 took as Marcus continued to point out the advantages and disadvantages to the incendiary weapons. He hit a button that brought out a target.  
"Is that a person?" Maya asked, frowning.  
"That?" Marcus turned to the bloody person tied to the post. "That's… a bandit who was late on a paym- I mean who tried to steal from me. Now, burn that imperialist bastard like a stag steak!" The Vault Hunters stared at him until shots rang out. They turned to see the screaming bandit as the fire ate his flesh. "Zer0?" Gaige asked, stunned. "Why'd you shoot him?"  
"He was a bandit/ We have killed dozens of them/ I didn't see harm." Zer0 shrugged as Marcus laughed about fire and flesh combining.  
"Moving on!" Marcus announced as he hit the target button again, producing another bloody victim, but this time he was wearing a Hyperion uniform. "This Hyperion fascist thinks he's safe because he's wearing a shield. Spoilers: he isn't." The Hyperion officer screamed at Marcus and threatened the coming of Handsome Jack.  
"Oooh he's annoying." Gaige said, holding out her hand. "Gimme." Marcus happily handed her a blue weapon which he said was a shock weapon. Gaige fired several shots, destroying the Hyperion officer's shield.  
"Nice shot!" Marcus laughed, but Gaige wasn't quite done yet.  
"Gaige," Maya said hesitantly, looking at the electrified target, "I think he's done."  
"Whatevs, I'm out of bullets anyway." Gaige shrugged. "What's next?  
"I'm glad you asked!" Marcus cheered and pushed another button. This time a Hyperion robot came forward as the target.  
"How are you getting these targets?" Axton wondered. "Interns." Marcus quickly responded. "Now, armored opponents can be very dangerous unless you have a corrosive weapon to fight against them!" He held out a green gun which Maya accepted. A couple of well placed shots later, the robot was nothing but a melted hunk of metal.  
"I love the corrosive weaponry." Marcus grinned.  
"Me too." Maya returned the grin.  
"And now, let's try out this new slag weapon." Marcus pressed a purple gun into Axton's hands as the next victim target came out.  
"Slag?" Axton raised an eyebrow.  
"The latest thing." Marcus responded. "They're based off of eridium and deal a lot of damage. Basically, they shoot this purple slime at your opponent which weakens them. After that, just shoot with any weapon and he'll be as good as dead!" Axton shrugged, took aim, and fired the slag gun. Purple slime spilled out all over the victim. Axton took out his shotgun and fired away. The bullets blew up once they made contact with the slime, killing the target instantly.  
"Gotta admit," Axton said, lowering his shotgun, "it's definitely got some kick."  
"Very good!" Marcus clasped his hands together. "So, do we have a deal?"

The Vault Hunters left Marcus's shop with a nice assortment of guns of all types, and a few extra for Salvador, and headed to a medical clinic where Marcus said they could get shields from. "But be careful," he warned them, "that guy is creepy. Besides, I need your business!" The thought that the Russian arms dealer who kept living targets in his basement and possibly orphans working for him thought that some other guy was creepy was enough to make Axton shudder. "I'm starving! I wanna eat your babies!" A bloodcurdling scream came from a bandit strapped down to a gurney. The Vault Hunters had walked in to find blood all over the place, and the screaming man tied down like he was one of Marcus's targets.  
"Son, this might sting a bit." A tall man with grey streaks in his hair, covered in doctor's scrubs and a surgical mask, spoke with a creepy southern accent. He came out from behind the gurney holding a large syringe. Which he then proceeded to jam directly into the bandit's chest. As the bandit screamed in pain, the doctor noticed he had company. "Well, hello there!" He greeted them, still holding the syringe in the man's chest. "You must be the new blood! Heh heh, no pun intended." The doctor yanked the syringe out of the chest and tossed it into a bucket marked "skag food". "I am Dr. Zed Blanco, at your service!" He noticed the Vault Hunters' expressions and followed their gazes to the bleeding man, screaming on his table. "Oh that! Well, you know. Do no harm." He hurried back to his "patient".  
"Um, we came to get some shields." Axton finally broke the awkward silence as Maya and Gaige watched, stunned. He couldn't get a read from Ze0, but then again who could?  
"Oh, uh right here." With the heel of his boot, Zed gestured to a vending machine right next to the Vault Hunters. "Hey! I've got a perfectly legal and not shady job for you." Zed managed between struggling to keep the patient down. "Roland's boys caught this here Hyperion dirtbag tryin' to sneak into the city. Looks like they messed up his lungs pretty bad. Wanna be my operatin' assistant?" Shrugging, Axton and Zer0 stepped forward while Maya and Gaige came up from behind. Axton had little experience with medicine in the field, but as long as he wasn't the one in charge he could probably help out at least. "Alright, make a small incision below his sternum, but be careful. We don't want to nick the coronary artery."  
"Um, I'm not sure that's going to work." Maya frowned.  
"Well, I am legally obligated to tell you that I don't actually have a medical license." Zed admitted.  
"Where's the sternum?" Axton whispered to Zer0. Zer0 pointed at the spot Zed mentioned. "You got a knife?" Axton asked the doctor.  
"Boy," Zed started, "you've got a perfectly good blade right there at your side." Zed pointed to Axton's tomahawk. Axton stared, shrugged, and carefully went to make the incision with the blade of the tomahawk.  
"Hola, amigos!" Salvador shouted from behind them, causing Axton to slip and slice through the bandit.  
"Oh, shit!" Axton cursed. "Sal!"  
"Lo siento." The Truxican grinned sheepishly. "I just went looking for you guys after I hit up the bar. The Russian guy told me you were here. With my new guns!" Axton glared at him before handing him his new guns.  
"Sorry, doc."  
"Eh, close enough." Zed shrugged as he rummaged through the carnage. He pulled out a small purple rock. "An Eridium shard?! For- How many times I tell you idiots? You can't get slag powers by swallowin' this stuff!"  
"Could we at least use it?" Gaige asked all of a sudden, her eyes glued to the shining purple rock.  
"That shard ain't no good on the black market." Zed sighed. "It isn't refined yet." He handed it over to Gaige. "You could probly take it over to that Tannis lady on the other side of town. She's real into that Eridium stuff, when she ain't acting all hoity-toity because she's got a "real" doctorate." The Vault Hunters thanked him and he mentioned he would have work for them, if interested. As they left, they couldn't help but overhear Zed talking to himself. "God as my witness, I will one day find a useable spleen." That made them leave quicker.

After asking one of the Crimson Lancemen, the Vaut Hunters backtracked to the Crimson Lance HQ. As soon as they entered, they found a woman with a short haircut, goggles, and dressed in black and red. Axton thought she looked kind of hot, but once she started speaking that kind of changed. "As I've said Roland," she spoke into an ECHO recorder, "now that Jack has the Vault Key, it will only be a matter of time until he opens the Vault." She paused. "Also, I require a ventilator. This lab smells of bacon. Bacon is for sycophants and products of incest."  
"She's loco." Salvador made a gesture with his finger twirling around his ear.  
"Um, excuse me." Axton walked over, hesitantly.  
"After hours of scientific insanity you could only imagine in your dreams, or in my bed standing offer, I have deduced that Jack, the Vault Key and the Eridium are all connected on a deeper level!"  
"Um, what?" Axton asked, stunned.  
"Hello, Patricia Tannis Vault aficionado and lover of ceiling chairs." She announced as she stood on top of a broken washing machine. "Now who are you and get the hell out of my laboratory! Oh, wait. One of you is a Siren. Ok, you can all stay now." With that she got back down, smoothed out her dress, and picked up a worksheet.  
"Gaige, promise me you'll never turn out like that." Maya whispered.  
"Ten steps ahead of you." Gaige responded, a little to quickly. Axton had to admit, this woman was insanely smart like Zed said she was, but more like insane smart.  
"Yes?" Tennis asked impatiently.  
"We need you to-" Axton started.  
"Not you!" Tannis snapped. "Him!" She pointed to the wall. "So you were discussing your childhood."  
"Can we get your help in refining this Eridium, please." Axton asked as quickly as possible. "Then we'll get out of your hair ASAP."  
"Fine." Tannis harrumphed. "I'll have to conclude speed dating another time!" She grabbed the shard from Gaige's hands and popped it into another washing machine nearby. She clicked a few buttons and out popped a full bar of Eridium. "There. Goodbye! Come again!" She said, happily, as she practically shoved them away. The Vault Hunters looked at each other and shrugged.  
"After all of that," Axton broke the silence, "I need a drink. Sal?"

Salvador led them down the street to a bar with a neon sign that said "Moxxi's" out front. Inside, music was pumping and the citizens of Sanctuary were all coded up in booths or at the bar itself. "What ho, Vault Hunters!" A familiar voice called out. The Vault Hunters turned to see Sir Hammerlock at the other end of the bar. "Fancy running into you all here! Thought I had enough the barren ice land and would come home to Sanctuary. A task made much easier after you all had done away with the notorious Captain Flynt and his men! I'd offer to buy you all drinks, but your Truxican behemoth took up that offer earlier and left me penniless until my publisher calls back. Anyway, cheerio!" He was about to leave when he noticed Gaige. "Ah! Young lady! My apologies for not noticing your latest arrival. I am Sir Hammerlock. Hunter. Scholar. Gentleman. At your service." He bowed, bid farewell, and left.  
"W-who was that?" Gaige asked, still looking out the door after the gentleman with cybernetic enhancements.  
"A friend." Axton answered, as he took a seat at the bar.  
"Oh." Gaige half-responded. "She took a seat next to Maya and Zer0 "I think I'm gonna like it here.  
"And what's not to like, sugar?" A southern belle in purple, sporting a top hat and tons of makeup asked as she slid up to the Vault Hunters. "Well," she purred, "if it isn't the Vault Hunters I've been hearing so much about." She leaned over the bar and winked, while offering a generous amount of cleavage. "Mad Moxxi at your service, ladies and gentlemen. How's about some drinks to wash out those dry throats?" Axton was only half-listening as his eyes were glued to something else, until Maya rolled her eyes and smacked the back of his head.  
"Sorry!" Axton suddenly snapped out of it, while Moxxi giggled knowingly. "One drink for each of us, please."  
"You got it, sugar." She answered happily. "A gentleman with manners, you don't see that often on Pandora." She said to Maya and Gaige.  
"We'll keep our eyes open." Maya smirked, making Moxxi laugh out loud.  
"I'm gonna like y'all." She batted her eyes and went to get the drinks. Axton leaned back in his seat and surveyed the bar. As far as towns go, Sanctuary was actually a pretty good one. It was safe to say, he was going to like it here too.  
"Um, hey y'all." Scooter suddenly spoke through their ECHOs. "Not to rush you, but when're y'all going to get Roland back from the Firehawk?"  
"Right." Axton remembered. "Moxxi, we'll need those drinks to go, we've got some hunting to do."  
"Good luck!" Mixxi waved as the Vault Hunters headed out.

 **Author's Note: So you probably noticed that little reaction Gaige had to Hammerlock, but that's only because I'm trying to keep this as close to canon as possible and we all now she has a massive crush on the scholarly gentleman. So that won't stay long. Not that I've decided anything with her, I just want to defend myself from the fans who do not like that particular pairing. In terms of everyone's suggestions so far, thanks for the awesome feedback! I think I have a good idea for how to continue this story, but I'm still open to suggestions if you've got them! Alright! Next up the Firehawk! See you soon!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. Been swamped with work and studying and applications on top of applications, yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure you all want to hear about that. So I'll tell you about it! First I- Nah, just kidding. I'm not a sadist. Just too lazy to write all of it down. Now let's get on with the story (finally)! I do not own Borderlands. Enjoy!**

There was a lonely skag on the road in Three Horns Divide. It once had a family, but they were now lost to him. The evil metal monsters on the road saw to that. A rumbling sound followed by an engine was heard. The skag saw two of the forsaken beasts headed toward him. Now was his chance. He would have his revenge. With a roar, he ran towards the monsters at full speed. They would not win this day.

"Hey, Sal!" Axton called out to the other car. "Careful with the driving! That skag's guts nearly hit us!"  
"Sorry!" Salvador yelled back, laughing like a psycho and flooring it, causing Gaige to scream at the top of her lungs. Axton shook his head and increased his speed too. They were on their way to Frostburn Canyon, where Scooter said the Firehawk lived. Axton, Zer0 and Maya were in one car, while Salvador and Gaige were in the other. Zer0 was holding onto one of the bars of the light runner, positioning himself between Axton and Maya. Gaige lossed a coin toss. Tough world. Salvador boosted over a ramp and pulled over next to an encampment. "Map says the entrance is here." Gaige announced. Axton and the others acknowledged this as they climbed out of their runners and readied their weapons.  
"This encampment here/ Is most likely overrun/ With many bandits." Zer0 noted.  
"Good point." Maya peered over a barricade. "Think we'll need a plan?" Axton looked over where Maya was looking.  
"Maybe if we had some sort of distraction to draw their attention, we could- hey, where's Sal?" Axton broke off his battle plan in confusion. The others shrugged. Suddenly they heard the sound of Truxican laughter.  
"ADIÓS PENDEJOS!" Salvador screamed as he charged forward with an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Axton watched as Salvador ran in, guns blazing.  
"I guess that's our distraction." He muttered. Axton leapt over the barricade and flanked the bandits from the side, opening fire once in range. Gaige summoned Deathtrap and had him charge straight through the middle of the crossfire between Salvador and Axton. That left cleanup to Maya and Zer0. A few Siren shock blasts and invisible stabs later, the Vault Hunters stepped through their carnage into Frostburn Canyon.  
"Alright. We're in Frostburn. Now where do we find the Firehawk?" Gaige asked.  
"The Firehawk should be around here somewhere." Angel chimed in. "Stay alert." Axton was about to thank her when bandits ran past them, up ahead on the road. The Vault Hunters quickly took cover to the side. Well, Zer0 had to hold his blade up to Sal's neck to keep him quiet, but still. "That's weird." Angel commented, sounding concerned.  
"What?" Axton asked. If an A.I. was concerned, they should all be.  
"The Bloodshot Bandits seem to be attacking the Firehawk's lair." Angel answered. "Thye've never done that outright before."  
"They eliminate/ And we can clean up after/ Sounds easy enough." Zer0 commented.  
"They've probably left landmarks for reinforcements." Angel suggested. "Those should lead you to the Firehawk. That… or follow the screaming." She seemed to shudder before signing off.

After checking to make sure everybody was loaded up and ready to go, Axton led the way down the path to the first landmark. It was fresh. And by fresh, it meant the body was still bleeding. The "landmark" was a psycho strapped up and crucified up against an upright metal bed. "How did they have the time to put this up?" Gaige wondered.  
"Step off, Vault Hunters." A rough and raspy voice croaked through their ECHOs. "This is between the Bloodshots and the Firehawks."  
"Uh, who's this?" Axton asked.  
"Leader of the Bloodshots!" The hoarse voice cackled proudly.  
"No, we got that." Maya responded blankly. "We meant who are you?"  
You can call me… Flanksteak!" A sudden snort forced Axton to turn and see Salvador on his knees with tears streaming down his face. He obviously was having trouble not laughing. He was failing. "Hey!" Flanksteak shouted. "What's so funny?"  
"N-nothing, amigo." Salvador got up, trying to catch his breath. "We're bueno."  
"Once my boys bring his ass back to me, he's gonna pay for every Bloodshot he killed!" Flanksteak snarled. "We're gonna string him up from his own freakin` intestines!"  
"Well, that was needlessly graphic." Angel commented dryly as Gaige made sounds like she was about to upchuck.  
"… Let's just get going." Maya broke the awkward silence. Axton nodded and brought out his assault gun.

The path ahead split up. High road and low road. Through his scope, Zer0 saw the path ahead was filled with both Bloodshots and Firehawks. Zer0 headed towards the high ground, followed by Maya and Gaige. Axton and Salvador looked at each other and grinned. Time to raise some hell. Salvador charged in with his shotgun blowing holes through every bandit in his path. Axton ran from behind, shooting anybody that Salvador missed or only wounded. Axton rounded the corner and threw out his turret over the heads of a group of turret sprang out and rained a hail of bullets from behind as Axton took aim at the front. He heard the sound of gunshots from above and saw Zer0 at a sniping position, with Gaige and Maya providing cover. "Hey! Check this out!" Salvador yelled, taking aim at an approaching goliath. "Headshot!"  
"No, Sal, wait!" Axton yelled. Too late. Salvador fired the gun directly at the goliath's head. It's flaming skull helmet came off and hit the ground.  
"What's the problem, amigo?" Salvador turned, annoyed at being interrupted. "That." Axton pointed. Salvador turned to see the goliath's skin change color and grow. It's tiny head slithered out further with a longer neck. It dropped its guns and yelled in rage.  
"Mierda." Salvador muttered, and quickly went to reload as fast as possible.  
"What's the big deal?" Gaige asked through their ECHOs. "It looks like he's turning on his own crew."  
"And when he finishes with them?" Axton quickly picked up his turret and ran behind cover. "Who do you think he'll go after next?"  
"Well, we'll just kill him. Easy."  
"When they're in rage mode, Goliath's grow stronger with every kill." Maya told her.  
"Oh." Gaige said, realizing their situation. "Let's get him now then! It's robot fighting time!" Deathtrap was summoned in an instant and zoomed towards the goliath, who was now clobbering two bandits at once. Deathtrap opened fire with it's laser, while expertly evading the goliath's punches in mid-air. The goliath then jumped higher than before, right over Deathtrap, and was about to smash him when Maya's phase lock intervened.  
"Hurry…" Maya called out in a strained voice. "… Not sure… how much longer…" That was all the Vault Hunters needed to know. Axton and Salvador took aim and opened fire, Zer0 and Gaige followed suit. Soon, Maya dropped the goliath's carcass onto the ground, and the Vault Hunters regrouped.  
"You okay?" Axton asked.  
"I'll be fine." Maya panted. "He was just heavier than I'm used to lifting."  
"Heh, that's what she said- ow!" Salvador rubbed the back of his head where Gaige hit him. "That's a metal arm, chica. Watch it!"  
"Then next time you'll watch it!" Gaige retorted. Salvador walked away, grumbling.

"This is unusual." Angel commented, as the Vault Hunters came upon the next landmark at the mouth of a cavern. "The Firehawk has harassed the Bloodshots for some time, but they have never mounted such a large-scale assault on the Firehawk before. I wonder what's given them such confidence."  
"I guess we'll just have to keep shooting until somebody talks." Axton said, slamming his tomahawk into a nomad's skull. The Vault Hunters kept pressing forward when they heard a sudden "EEEEK!" Axton whipped his head to see spiderants coming out from crevices in the cavern. He threw out a few grenades and slammed his tomahawk onto one the size of a skag. He heard a screech and looked up to see another skag-sized one jumping towards him. He braced for impact, only to see the spiderant sliced in two. "Thanks, Zer0." Axton said as Zer0 materialized in front of him and flashed a :) on his visor. Axton saw behind him another spiderant facing off against Salvador. Sal kept on shooting, but it's exoskeleton was incredibly tough. Suddenly, a rapid click, click, click came from Salvador's guns. Salvador looked down at his guns and back up at the spiderant, that was around his body size, inching closer. He grunted and threw down his guns.  
"You want a piece of me, puta?" Salvador cracked his knuckles. "Come and get it!" Salvador roared and ran forward at the spider ant. Then it was squashed. Sal stopped short and looked up to see another huge spiderant that was brought up and down like a sledgehammer by Maya's phaselock. "You okay, Sal?" She called out.  
"Yeah, fine, whatever." He mumbled retrieving his guns.  
"Gaige, you alright?" Axton asked when all of the spiderants were dead. "You don't have to worry about these things. We got 'em."  
"Um, what are you talking about?" Gaige asked, confused.  
"Didn't you scream earlier when these things came out of the walls?  
"Uh, no?" She responded, slightly insulted. "I thought that was Maya."  
"What? No! I love spiderants!"  
"It didn't look it/ When you slaughtered more than one./ In fact, several." Zer0 commented dryly.  
"I didn't say I liked them enough to not kill them when they attack me, I just find them to be fascinating creatures."  
"Well, if it wasn't us, it must have been one of you boys."  
"Wasn't me."  
"I think not."  
"You kiddin'? I grew up with these on mi abuela's farm!"  
"Umm…"  
The Vault Hunters turned to see a goliath Bloodshot standing off to the side, sheepishly.  
"That was you?" Maya asked, incredulously.  
"What?" The goliath responded in defense. "They're creepy." An awkward silence rose between everyone. "Sooo can we just go back to killing everyone?" Gaige asked, trying to break the tension.  
"Yeah, probably for the best." Axton answered and raised his gun. "Sorry." "No worries." The goliath said. "I was gonna do the same to you. Let's rock."

Later on, after a few more killings and second-degree burns, the Vault Hunters came upon the fourth sigil. And that's when Jack decided to but in. Axton was only half paying attention to Jack going on about how the Firehawk liquidates guys into smoothies and how Roland's an idiot for not figuring out Jack's secret, yadda yadda yadda, when he spotted something headed their way. "Hey, Maya," he said without taking his eyes off the target as he raised his assault rifle, "how big is too big for you to lift with your powers?"  
"About as big as Captain Flynt was, I guess." She answered. "Definitely no bigger than that. So far I can only do a couple of normal sized people and robots." She paused. "Why?"  
"Incoming badass!" Axton opened fire, prompting his teammates to do the same. Their target stood at least seven feet tall and wore a huge skull on its head. It was carrying a huge pipe that was tied to other animal bones as a club. The badass lumbered forward as bullets tore through its flesh. It didn't seem to mind though. That just tickled. Finally, after several reloads, a few dodges form the mighty swing of the badass's giant club, and a few well placed grenade. "That was me!" Salvador cheered. This caused everyone to bicker for a good five minutes over who made that final killing shot. In the end they all agreed to just move on and wouldn't count it. Little did they know, it really was Salvador who killed the might badass.

It took some time, but after a few more encounters, a large city-like campsite that looked kind of like a factory, and the sizzling of burning flesh (man these Firehawks loved fire, eh?), the Vault Hunters came to a cavern and sigil number 6. "This is it. The Firehawk's hideout." Angel warned them. "Be careful, friends. There are bound to be traps everywhere." A sound like somebody stepping on a switch was heard followed by flames and screaming.  
"OH! GOD IN HEAVEN! I CAN TASTE MY OWN MELTING FLESH!"  
"See? Traps. Don't let that happen to you."  
"We won't." Axton swore. The Vault Hunters treaded very carefully. At least until Salvador stumbled on another fire trap and Gaige nearly got one of her pigtails singed.  
"What? It wasn't my fault!" Salvador exclaimed. "It's these damned vibrations in the earth. Jack's drills!"  
"Yeah, he just mentioned those a second ago." Maya confirmed. "You think he's getting closer?  
"There's no way I'm letting an asshole like him get to that Vault." Axton grumbled. "At least not before me." Gaige was about to respond when gunshots interrupted the conversation. The Vault Hunters looked at each other and ran ahead to see a circular platform where two bandits were shooting at something. As the the Vault Hunters got closer, Axton could make out some kind of light in the air. Suddenly, the light smashed down and blasted the two bandits away. The light began to fade, and Axton was able to make out shining flaming wings, that were fading as well, attached to a red-headed woman with glowing tattoos on her face and arm. Just like Maya. _Holy shit_ , Axton realized, _the Firehawk is a_ siren! The light finally faded and the woman stood up straight and turned to the Vault Hunters, grinning.

"Sup." She nodded cooly in their direction. Never before had Axton ever seen a cooler entrance. Then this was ruined by the woman falling weakly to the ground. The Vault Hunters rushed forward and Maya grabbed her before she hit the ground. "Howyadoin?" The woman said, weakly. "The bandits call me the Firehawk, but the name's Lilith."  
"You're the Firehawk?" Gaige was astounded. "A freaking Siren?" Lilith chuckled.  
"I'm with the Raiders, like you." She said. "I keep the bandits in line so Roland can focus on taking down Jack."  
"So you didn't take Roland?" Axton asked. "Then who did?"  
"I'd be happy to answer that, but long story, lots of internal bleeding can you help me up?"  
"I have so many questions." Maya gushed as she helped Lilith up. "I've never actually met another Siren before."  
"Maya? I don't think now's the time." Axton interrupted, gesturing to the weakened Lilith.  
"Right, right, later. Sorry."  
"S'okay." Lilith grinned. She grabbed her head in pain. "Oof. I need a pick-me-up. Get me some Eridium, will ya? I should have some in one of my strongboxes." Zer0 ran to where Lilith pointed and returned a moment later with a small chunk of unrefined Eridium. He handed to her, which she graciously accepted. She took a few steps back and put both hands onto the chunk of purple rock. Soon, her whole body began to glow with a purple light. When the light faded, the rock was gone and Lilith stood stall and strong. "Ahh. Thanks. Feels so much better." She looked at the Vault Hunters. "So yeah. Roland. Bloodshots took him. Made 'em cocky too. They never come after me this hard." An explosion went off, interrupting the conversation. Bandits came pouting through holes in the ceiling. "Heh. Now the real fun begins." Lilith said, beginning to glow again. "I'll see if I can't phaseblast a few of 'em for ya."

The Vault Hunters went to work straight away. Axton threw out her turret and laid cover fire while Salvador let loose and wild. Gaige summoned Deathtrap and sprang into action on the other side. Zer0 went invisible and bandits left and right found themselves suddenly sliced up. Maya thew out a couple of phase locks to round up for shooting covered Axton. Suddenly, badasses appeared. Salvador, dual wielding a shotgun and a incendiary assault rifle, attacked the first one along with Deathtrap and Gaige backing him up. Maya saw the second one coming towards them and tried with all her might to lock it in a bubble. A spark went off and blew the badass back a few feet.  
"Cool." Maya breathed. Axton threw out a grenade and emptied a few clips, hoping this would stop the monster. When the smoke cleared, the badass was obviously weakened, but still standing. A sniper rifle shot rand out and a smoking hole appeared in its head. Zer0 appeared right next to the falling badass and a :) appeared on his visor.  
"Show off." Axton muttered.  
"Well, that was fun." Lilith panted as she sat on top of a pile of corpses. "Feeling tapped out though. Could ya grab me another hunk of Eridium?"  
As Gaige ran to get the Eridium, Axton looked over the carnage Lilith wreaked and back at her tired body. "Are you sure taking this stuff is a good thing?" Axton asked, concerned. "You don't look too good." Lilith waved a tired hand off, like she was trying to say to forget it but couldn't speak. Once Gaige returned and Lilith did the purple glow thing again, she finally stood up.  
"Since the Vault opened, my Siren powers have been getting a little… awesome. Thanks to this Eridium stuff." Lilith grinned, flexing her arms. "No idea why."  
"That does not fare well./ I am seeing bad signals./ Are you not concerned?" Zer0 asked. Lilith just shrugged.  
"That doesn't sound like something you should just shrug." Gaige piped up, but Lilith had already moved on.  
"Now, let's see about rescuing my boyfrie-, well ex-boyfriend." Lilith winced before regaining her composure. "Before the Bloodshots grabbed him, Roland was getting intel on the Vault, and what Jack plans to do with it."  
"Did he tell you anything?" Axton inquired.  
"No." Lilith shook her head. "You'll have to find him."  
"What are you going to do?" Maya asked.  
"I gotta head back to Sanctuary." Lilith answered. "Keep the city in one piece while Roland's away. But first," Lilith put her hands out and began to glow again, "I'm going to teleport you into the Bloodshot Stronghold. That's where they're keeping Roland. You'll catch 'em by surprise and have a real advantage. It'll be great."  
"Awesome." Axton and Maya said at the same time. Salvador just scratched his head.  
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if we get to kill people, I'm in." He laughed like a madman. Zer0 said noting but raised his pistol and flashed a 0 on his visor. A purple light waved over them, and Axton felt the same feeling as the teleportation tech that Dahl used at their bases. Lilith snapped her fingers and Axton was blinded by the light. When it subsided, Axton saw they had moved!… to another area of Frostburn?  
"…I just moved you, like, ten feet didn't I?" Axton turned around to see Lilith standing beneath them, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'm still getting used to this."  
"No big deal." Gaige responded. "There's always troubleshooting in the beginning of any great technological achievement."  
"That reminds me." Lilith said. "The Bloodshot Stronghold can be full of tough customers. Ya might want to train a bit before taking them on."  
"Thanks for the suggestion." Axton said. "We'll see you soon." He turned to the others. "Ready?" After a few nods and looting of storage crates, the Vault Hunters set out to get Roland back.

 **Author's Note: And done! I hope that was long enough to satisfy you all and make up for the long wait! I cannot apologize enough, so I won't. Wait, I already did. Crap. Oh, well. So, we've finally met Lilith, I have plans for Axton and Krieg's introduction thanks to all of your wonderful comments. If you have more suggestions, please don't hesitate! Hopefully the next update won't be too far away. See you soon!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Hey guys! So I am definitely not where I wanted this story to be at this point, so that just means I'll have to keep up the pace. Luckily, summer's here! I'll try to update more often seeing as how I'm on break. As a special treat and way of apology, I made this chapter a little longer than extra, and threw in something I hope you'll appreciate. Anyway, let's move on. I do not own Borderlands. Enjoy!**

"Alright, Killer, I'm back in Sanctuary." Lilith's voice came out over the ECHO.  
"A little busy here, doll." Axton grimaced as he dodged a nomad's swipe and emptied his pistol into the nomad's head. Axton then ducked down and reloaded as fast as possible before noticing that all of the attacking bandits were dead. Axton relaxed and holstered his gun and grabbed his tomahawk from a psycho's corpse. The Vault Hunters were ambushed as soon as they reentered Three Horns Divide. Fortunately for Zer0's intuition in assassination, the Vault Hunters came out on top. Axton walked over to where Maya was healing Salvador from a few lucky shots and where Zer0 was cleaning his blade. Gaige was off looting the corpses, whistling a song and almost skipping to the melody. If she wasn't covered in blood and had a floating robot standing (flying?) next to her, it would have been a cute sight. Axton sighed and hit the comms button. "Sorry about that, Lil. What's up?"  
"First, if you ever call me 'doll' again, I will liquify your insides." Lilith snarled in a calm manner that made Axton's bones chill. "Second, the Bloodshots have camped all around the dam. You'll probably want a vehicle to soak up some bullets for you."  
"Thanks for the advice… uh, ma'am." Axton swallowed.  
"This isn't Dahl, Soldier Boy. Just Lilith will be fine."  
"Right. We're on it." Axton signed off and relayed Lilith's message.  
"So what's the plan? Guns blazing?" Maya asked.  
"Pretty much." Axton replied. "We can't do much without knowing exactly where they're camped. So let's take it nice and-"  
"I call driving!"  
"Me too!"

Salvador and Gaige scrambled to the light runners as Axton, Maya and Zer0 watched. Axton pinched the bridge of his nose, Maya sighed, and Zer0 sheathed his sword. "Shotgun." They all called out simultaneously.

* * *

The road to Three Horns Valley was uneventful, save for a few sudden turns that Salvador just _had_ to pull at high speeds. Soon the Vault Hunters came to the entrance of the Bloodshot Dam. The iron walls were tall and surrounded with spikes. The only way in was the front door. Say what you will about bandits, Axton thought. They know fortification. "Huh, nobody seems to be around." Lilith commented. She was watching through Gaige's ECHO vid broadcast, allowing her to see everything. "Guess this won't be so hard after all. Just drive up and honk your horn." Salvador guided the vehicle up to the gate and honked the horn a few times.  
"Who's there?" A voice called out from behind the gate.  
"Um, bandits?" Gaige called back.  
"Are you kidding me?" Axton whispered. "There's no way they'll fall for that. Only an idiot will fall for that!"  
"Which bandits?" The voice called back.  
"Um, the ones from… the other camp."  
"… Oh! Hey, guys! I'll just open the gate for ya!"  
"You have gotta be kidding me." Axton stared slack jawed as the gate began to lower. He turned to Zer0 who just shrugged and flashed a "?".  
"Hold it, idiots!" Flanksteak's raspy voice screamed through the speakerphones, freezing the gate from opening. "That don't look like one of technicals! They're here for our hostage! Get 'em!"  
"Couldn't say we didn't see that one coming." Maya muttered as the gates where raised and bandits came jumping over the fence.  
"Gotta say, I am impressed with their loyalty to their own cause." Gaige remarked.  
"And their stupidity." Salvador added as he opened fire. "Can't believe they're attacking armed cars with guns and clubs."  
"So, any ideas on how we're getting in?" Gaige asked as the gunfire subsided and the last of the bandits fell.  
"Vaulting is ideal/ But risky without knowing/ What lies opposite." Zer0 commented as he surveyed the walls. "Maya? Your powers?/ Could you teleport us all/ Or lift us over?"  
"I doubt it." Maya bit her lip in thought. "Lilith powers are different from my own. Plus she's way more powerful than me. I could only lift one of us at a time for every few minutes, and I'm not sure how well I could control it. And we still have the same problem with vaulting without knowing what or who is waiting on the other side."  
"Front door is the only entrance." Axton concluded. He closed his eyes in deep thought, trying to crack this puzzle wide open. "Y'all ain't gettin' in the dam that way, peppernip!" A hillbillly twang came through their ECHOs.

"Scooter?" Maya realized. Axton's eyes she wide open.  
"The Bloodshots ain't lettin' y'all in without a truck like theirs." Scooter gleefully pointed out. "Yeah, they did say something about their technicals." Gaige noted.  
"But where can we get one?" Salvador asked. "It's not like the pendejos have them parked for us to just grab them."  
"Go see my kin out in the Dust." Scooter replied. "She'll hook you up with some sleepy lookin' wheels! Mmhmm! Elie's way out there in bandit country. Be careful out there, amigos. I really mean it."

* * *

It was a long drive out to the dust. Axton stared out the window of the light runner and saw the land shift from snow, to rocky, to sand. The Dust. Aptly named. Axton's eyes began to close from drowsiness. _How long has it been since I last slept?_ He thought with a yawn. _Probably since Claptrap's boat._ Axton's eyes shut, then open, then finally shut. All he saw was blackness. Then knocking. Axton shook himself awake in his seat. He looked out to wear Zer0 was perched on the runner. "We're here." He said. "Sorry to wake you."  
"No, it's fine." Axton stretched in his seat. "How long was I out?"  
"Not long." Zer0 responded, readjusting his grip as Salvador made a sharp turn. Axton looked to see that they were headed towards some kind of junkyard. As the Vault Hunters approached, they could hear someone screaming in pain.  
"Someone's in trouble!" Maya exclaimed. "Hurry!" Gaige and Salvador stepped on the gas as hard as they could and boosted until they were at the junkyard's entrance. With some careful maneuvering. The hit the brakes and drifted so both runners blocked the way out. The Vault Hunters jumped out of their seats and drew their guns. Axton held a shotgun in one hand and his turret box in the other. Maya held an SMG and her tattoos glowed dangerously. Salvador held assault rifles in each hand and Gaige summoned DeathTrap. Zer0 landed on top of the flying robot and held his sword at the ready. The Vault Hunters were ready for battle. What they were not ready for was the sight of a bandit in his technical being squashed by a huge trash compactor being controlled by an immensely huge woman.  
"I shoulda killed your fat ass when I had the chance!" The bandit screamed at the top of his lungs.  
"Sorry, what was that?" The woman yelled back. "You gotta speak up!" The bandit screamed his last scream as the compactor smashed down on him, splashing blood in every which direction.  
"Um, who was it that we were supposed to help?" Gaige asked, stunned, as the Vault Hunters put away their weapons and just stood in shock.  
"I'm not sure." Maya responded, equally dumbfounded.  
"Heh, that was awesome." Salvador and the woman said simultaneously. The woman suddenly realized that she had company and turned to greet her guests. Axton tensed up. Whoever this woman was, she was not to be trifled with. Scooter did warn them.  
"Oh, howdy!" The woman greeted cheerfully. "I didn't see ya there!" The woman walked over to the Vault Hunters as daintily as she could possibly manage to look. It was almost as if she didn't murder someone in cold blood a few minutes earlier. "Name's Elie, I like cuddlin` and murder!" She said with a bubbly personality. "My brother Scooter told me y'all was comin`! Don't get many visitors around here, especially not ones so cute." She winked.  
"Was that to you or me?" Axton whispered to Maya.  
"I thought it was to Gaige." She whispered back.  
"No! It was Salvador!" Gaige insisted.  
"So accordin` to Scooter, y'all are tryin` ta rescue your pal Roland from the dam, huh?" Elie asked, readjusting the straps of her work harness.  
"Uh, yes." Maya replied. "But we had trouble getting into the front gate. The Bloodshots recognized us and shut the gate. There's no other way in. Scooter said you could help us with that?"  
"Mmmhmmm!" Elie giggled. "I betcha y'all could fool those Bloodshots if you drove up in one of their custom trucks." Elie's face lit up. "I got one over yonder that I…" Elie looked towards the trash compactor and stared at it for a moment. "that I… crushed with the driver still inside." Elie looked back at the Vault Hunters sheepishly. "My bad." She shrugged.  
"Great." Axton sighed. "Any ideas on how to get a new one?" "Well," Elie thought for a moment. "I got a vanilla technical in the shop and most of the parts we need. Just gotta doll it up with more of the bandits trimmin's."  
"Trimmings?" Gaige inquired.  
"Spikes, blood, skulls. That kinda thing. Y'all could probably scavenge that stuff from the bandit patrols around here."  
"How are going to get parts from the patrols?" Axton asked.  
"You'll have ta blow up some bandit cars and grab the crap from the wreckage." Elie answered. "And don't pay `em any mind if they start calling y'all names. That just makes killing `em that much more fun." Elie laughed.  
"Works for me!" Salvador cheered and scrambled back into one of the runners. "Baminos amigos!" He shouted while honking the horn.  
"I'm riding with Sal this time!" Gaige called out as she ran towards the runner.  
"I'm driving this time./ I am tired of hanging/ Off the side railings." Zer0 announced.  
"Fine by me." Maya said. "I'll shoot."  
"Hey, what am I supposed to do?" Axton said, offended that he was being left out. He also felt a twinge of unpleasantness at the thought of Maya and Zer0 going solo in the runner, but he didn't know why. They were all just teammates. Friends. So was Sara. He thought before wiping it out of his head.  
"You can cover us./ Just hang onto the runner/ And shoot down bad guys." Zer0 suggested.  
"Here," Maya handed over her gun. You can borrow my Maliwan Sniper Rifle. It's got awesome fire power, and corrosive too, so that should help against the technicals." Axton looked down at his hands and back up at the Siren. Though they haven't been together too long, he knew she loved the elemental weapons they've looted from bandits.  
"Wow. Thanks." Was all he could say.  
"I'm getting it back afterwards." Maya quickly said before jumping onto the runner. Was that a blush? Axton thought. Nah. And with that, he jumped on and perched himself next to her, right where Zer0 had been hanging on.  
"Hold on tight." Zer0 warned and pressed the gas.

* * *

BOOM! Another vehicle went up in smoke. "Zer0! Drive me closer to the tire!" Axton yelled while leaning as far as he could without falling off the runner. Bullets were flying everywhere as Maya covered him from the gunner seat. A huge buzz saw whizzed over Axton's head as he picked up the parts from the wreckage that Elie needed. "Got 'em!" Axton confirmed. "Let me just- Shit!" Axton's left hand began to lose its grip on the railings due to the unexpected weight of the car parts. _Shit shit shit shit shit!_ Suddenly, Axton found himself only a few feet from the speeding ground, his head inches from one of the tires. He looked up to see Maya had grabbed him by his belt in the nick of time. "Thanks." Axton breathed, giving a thumbs up. Maya smirked and hauled him back on top of the runner.  
"Close call." She said, getting back into her seat.  
"No kidding." Axton responded, shaking off the trauma of nearly being roadkill and handing her the car parts. "Gotta give Z more credit. He makes hanging off these things look easy. And he's a way safer driver than Sal!" Maya chuckled and pulled him down by his collar as another buzz saw passed by. Axton could feel the air shifting as the saw passed overhead. He suddenly noticed how close he was to Maya's face. "Uh, thanks for the save. Again." Maya blushed and immediately released him.  
"No problem. Just keep an eye out, Ax. I won't always be there to save you." Maya replied as she turned her gun toward the bandit vehicle. I won't always be there to save you. Axton grimaced as the sting of Sara's voice echoed Maya's words. Though it was a complete coincidence, the reminders weren't helpful. "Hey! You guys got the parts? Because we're about finished on our end." Gaige's voice came through their ECHO comms. "Yeah, Gaige. We're heading back now." Axton answered. He crawled forward and knocked on the railing above Zer0's head. "You got that, Z?" Zer0 flashed him a 0 sign on his visor. "And for the record," Axton added as he repositioned himself, "I am never doing this again!" Zer0 turned around and flashed a ;) before returning his attention to the road and blasting off.

Back at Elie's, the Vault Hunters pooled their resources and trophies together for Elie to work with. "We won!" Salvador cheered and high-fives Gaige.  
"Boosh! Take that suckahs!" Gaige taunted.  
"This was a contest?" Maya raised an eyebrow. Axton just shrugged. "Also, what for? It looks like we got back even."  
"But we got here first!" Salvador pointed out. Zer0 just stood by silently and went over to the pile of loot. He reached behind his back and pulled out another car part and added it to the pile.  
"You missed one." Zer0 said to Axton. Salvador and Gaige just stared.  
"Wh- How- Why?!" Gaige dropped to her knees, dumbfounded.  
"I never fail a challenge." Zer0 stated, crossing his arms.  
"Um, ok. Now that that's over," Axton turned towards Elie, "ready to get started?"  
"Sure am!" Elie smiled. "This'll just take me a few minutes." She gathered up all of the parts and hurried over to the technical in her garage. A few minutes later, after the sounds of sparks, mechanical movement and country whistling, Elie stepped back from her creation. Axton had to admit. It was a fairly good job considering all she had to work with were scrapes and tires. "Now for the final touch!" Elie went over to the Catch-A-Ride system in the garage and began to type out a few key commands. A light on the garage ceiling lit up and went all over the vehicle, scanning it. With a whoosh, the car began to digistruct and soon disappeared. "Now y'all can take her for a spin whenever you want!" Elie took out a cloth and began to wipe her face. She gestured to the Catch-A-Ride behind her, and Axton stepped forward. He selected the bandit technical and added an exploding barrel catapult instead of the buzz saw shooter. He his select and the car digistructed onto the platform.  
"Thanks, Elie." Axton marveled. "This is fantastic."  
"Aw, shucks." Elie shuffled the dirt around with her feet, bashfully. "Just helpin' folks the best way Ah know how." She nodded towards the car. "Hop on already." Axton climbed into the driver's seat and started her up. The roar of the engine felt like fireworks exploding.  
"Now that looks like the car of a psycho murderer." Lilith's voice came through their ECHOs. "I'm diggin' it! Get back to the Bloodshot dam and try honkin' your way in again."  
"You heard the lady, all aboard!" Elie rallied. The Vault Hunters did as they were told. Salvador took the catapult while Gaige, Zer0 and Maya took positions on the back of the truck.  
"Y'all come one back now!" Elie waved as the Vault Hunters drove off for Round Two.

* * *

"Looks like one of ours." Flanksteak said through the intercom back at the dam. "Let 'em in while I try to get Hyperion back on the horn."  
"Ok, good sign." Axton breathed as the gate opened. "They haven't sold Roland yet."  
"Bueno, bueno." Salvador nodded. "Can I fire this ting up yet, or what?"  
"Go nuts." Gaige told him as she climbed out of the technical.  
"We've been tricked! Kill them!" Bullets flew all around as the Vault Hunters dove into battle. Salvador, laughing like a maniac, covered them with the catapult, as he launched exploding barrel after barrel at the bandits. "Get 'em, Badmaw!" The Vault Hunters turned to see the drawbridge into the dam had been lowered and a big bandit carrying a huge metal shield leaped out. "It's Badmaw!" Flanksteak cheered. "And his merry midgets!"  
"What?" Gaige paused in mid battle to check if she heard right. In response, Badmaw slammed his shield down, revealing three psycho midgets chained to the front. "Oh, nice." Gaige said sarcastically, and opened fire. Axton threw out his turret behind Badmaw as Gaige drew his fire from the front.  
"Las cadenas! Las cadenas!" Salvador yelled at them.  
"What?" Axton shouted back as he duck behind cover.  
"The chains! Shoot the chains!" Salvador exclaimed. "The midgets don't like being tied up!"  
"Understood." Zer0 confirmed. He went invisible as his hologram spun forward to keep the giant bandit busy. A few shots rang out seconds later and the chains of the shield snapped off. One by one, the midgets broke free and started their newfound freedom by attacking their former captor. As Badmaw swung at them like gnats, the Vault Hunters focused their fire on him until he was blown away by another exposing barrel.  
"Well, that was fun." Axton grunted, standing up to dust himself off. "Think there'll be any more like him?"  
"Maybe." Maya warned.  
"Great." Axton muttered sarcastically. "Great, great, great." He walked over and pulled a lever connected to the drawbridge chain to lower it completely, and the Vault Hunters stepped inside the dam.

"You're in?" Lilith responded on the ECHO to Maya's confirmation. "Great. Roland should be around here somewhere."  
"We'll get to looking immediately." Maya assured her. "There's just a lot of Bloodshots between us."  
"I'm sure you can handle yourself, but if anything happens to Roland…" Lilith paused. "Make sure nothing happens to Roland."  
"We're on it, boss." Axton said, signing off. He turned to where Gaige was handing out ammo for everyone to load up. "Where'd you get all of that?"  
"Over there." Gaige thumbed the Ammo Dump vending machine behind her. "It's no wonder that Pandora is the gun capital of the Border planets when even the bandits are involved with the business. They even have their own gun brand!"  
"This has Marcus Munitions written all over it." Maya said.  
"Marcus? How can you be sure?" Axton asked.  
"Because it has Marcus Munitions written all over it." Maya pointed at the words on the machine.  
"Not surprising." Salvador said, loading up. "He supplied plenty of guns to mi abuela. And my cousins. And my enemies!" He chuckled. "Good times." Once everyone was ready, they ran up the steps to face off against the Bloodshots.

The Vault Hunters charged into the hydraulics room of the dam, jumping behind concrete stands for fire cover. Axton threw out his turret and Zer0 went invisible. Gaige went a little fire crazy, screaming about anarchy. It was enough to send a chill down Axton's spine. From the hydraulics, they ended up in some sort of engine room with a lot of cover. And a lot of exploding tanks. Salvador was very happy at the end of that bloodbath. As they moved on, they could hear Flanksteak leaving public ECHOs for Hyperion to pick up and buy Roland off of him. "Well that's a good sign." Gaige offered. "Maybe Hyperion doesn't believe him and won't come to pay."  
"Hyperion wants Roland, bad." Lilith warned. "Even if they don't buy him from the Bloodshots, they'll be coming for him. You better hurry."  
"Oh… Crap." The Vault Hunters doubled their efforts to get through to the next area. They were led to a large room that went around in a spiral upwards. In the center of the room was a swirling whirlpool. Ho, and tons of Bloodshots everywhere.  
"Look at all of those murderous Bloodshots." Jack's voice loomed in their ECHOs. "Don't you think Pandora would be better without their scum? That's all I wanna do. Clean up this planet. If that means I've got to kill bandits, like you, like the Bloodshots, like all those Crimson Raider idiots in Sanctuary? Hell, I'm happy to do it."  
"Freaking creep." Gaige spat before charging in. The Vault Hunters followed her up the spiraling path of collapsed concrete, all the while shooting at everything that shot back. Salvador led the charge with a Torgue shotgun in one hand and a Maliwan slag pistol. Maya must have been getting a little practice with her powers because she lifted two to three bandits at a time and flung them into the whirlpool below. Axton was providing cover fire for her cover fire, but at the top of the spiral, when they came to a large bridge, he tackled her to the ground, dodging an incoming rocket within a hair's length.  
"Thanks." Maya breathed after the explosion went off.  
"You had my back in the Dust." Axton grinned. "I've got yours." He held out his hand.  
"Deal." Maya replied, taking it and standing up. They both focused their attention on the bandit that was firing rockets from his rocket launcher in the middle of the bridge. There was no accessible way to get to him or distract him. Unless…  
"Gaige!" Axton yelled through the comms. "Can you get Deathtrap to-"  
"Way ahead of you, cowboy." Gaige quickly responded. The sound of digistructing and bright lights came soon after, followed by Gaige's hover robot flying out to the space next to the bridge. Deathtrap fired its laser at the bandit and deflected the oncoming rockets with its digistruct claws.  
"I'll say one thing about the fat bandit," Axton noted as the bandit ran around, dodging the lasers. "He's pretty nimble."  
"C'mon, Mad Mike, you wuss!" A voice shouted out just finish 'em."  
"Shut up, you idiots!" Mad Mike shouted back, breaking his concentration. That was enough for Zer0 to take enough key shots with his sniper rifle. Mike went down into the whirlpool, but not before leaving a present for Salvador to pick up.  
"Rocket launcher! Sweet!" Salvador laughed like a boy getting a Christmas present.

"Shit! He's got a rocket launcher! Run!" The bandits ran off in fear. That made Salvador laugh even harder and fire faster. With this newfound firepower, the Vault Hunters broke through the ranks of the bandits. Zer0 jumped from kill to kill, while scouting for ammunition for Salvador's rocket launcher. Axton and Gaige provided cover fire wherever Sal's rockets couldn't reach and Maya took out the stragglers. They pushed through a few more concrete areas until they reached a prison complex with a lot of cages.  
"This must be the place." Axton announced. "Let's look for Roland." The Vault Hunters went forward slowly, searching every cage they could find, until they came to a cell at the end of the block. In it sat two figures. The first was a dark skinned man wearing a beret and a camouflage uniform. The second figure was… "Krieg!" Maya ran up to the cage and gripped the bars. Axton stared. Inside the cage was the same badass psycho that saved Maya back in Three Horns, and the train station apparently. He was just sitting there calmly, but at the sound of Maya's voice, he jumped up and went wild.  
"The Lady of Blue shows signs to be gone!" He announced.  
"What?" Axton and Gaige said simultaneously.  
"I think he meant that us being here is a sign of freedom." Maya guessed.  
"The path turns right!"  
"See?"  
"I was wondering if any of you knew who this psycho was and why he wasn't harming me." The man said, smiling. "Good to know he's with you."  
"Are you Roland?" Axton asked, eager to change the subject. The man's smile broadened.  
"And you're the Vault Hunters." Roland replied. "Nice to finally meet you in person. Hell of a job fighting off all of those Bloodshots."  
"No sweat." Gaige grinned.  
"How about we get you two out of there?" Maya said. "There's a lot of people waiting for you at Sanctuary." A sudden electronic hum and whine began to build up nearby. The wall next to Roland exploded and a Hyperion Loader Bot stepped through. "This'll just take a second." Roland smiled casually. He turned to the Bot and tackled it. He ripped its core out of its shell and threw it like a grenade at another incoming Bot. The Bot exploded, only for another Loader to bulldoze him and the remains of the other two Bots into the wall. Before Axton or anybody could raise their weapons to help, Roland blasted the Loader with a gun he ripped from the arms of the destroyed Bots at his feet. "Now, let's see about getting out of here." Axton was about to remake how amazing that was, when a light blue electronic tendril grabbed Roland's wrist. More tendrils came and grabbed his remaining wrist, feet, and waist, and began pulling him out of the cage into a waiting Hyperion robot's cage.  
"And that's how Handsome Jack pays ransoms!" Jack's voice came through everybody's ECHOs. "Long time no see, Roland."  
"Let go of me, dammit!" Roland yelled and struggled. The robot lifted him and began to float away. Another wall exploded nearby, allowing more robots to pour in.  
"Let's go! Quick!" Axton was the first to recover. "Let's save Roland!"

 **Author's Note: Yes! I finally put in Krieg! The Vault Hunters are at their full numbers! Time for the hilarity to ensue. Shout out to the random guest and** Dionnee **-Chan for suggesting it. Writing for Krieg is going to be hard, but I've got some fun plans for him in mind. You also might have noticed something going on with Axton and Maya. Well… ;) Anyway, now that I've established all of that, I did like a lot of the suggestions you guys gave me, and I want to try and incorporate them into the story somehow too. So if you have any suggestions for how the story should go, like character interactions, dialogue, reactions to events or missions, please let me know! You guys gave me a ton of awesome and creative ideas and I'm looking forward to seeing more! See you guys next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm hoping to get another chapter out within a week or two before school starts up again. I'm starting grad school so I'll have even less time to post chapters. But looking at my track record this past year, that doesn't seem so different than before. Bright side! I'll do my best to keep updating. Anyway, let's move on. I hope you enjoy this action packed chapter. I do not own Borderlands. Enjoy!**

"Bloodshots. What's going on?" Flanksteak's voice echoed through the ECHO intercom. "I'm hearing more gunfire than usual. I'm still waiting for a response from Hyperion- Oh! Took ya long enough! Alright! Twenty bucks for Roland. That's my FINAL offer!" "Request denied" A robotic voice responded followed by static.

* * *

It all happened so fast. As soon as the Hyperion robots grabbed Roland, explosions around the dam went off, shaking the concrete prison the Vault Hunters were standing in. The friendly psycho Maya knew was jumping around his cell, trying to break the bars down. "They're storming the castle!" He proclaimed. "All hands on deck! Save the Private Ryan!" BOOM! The wall next to the cell blew wide open. The explosion's shockwave, along with pieces of concrete, knocked everyone back a few feet. Axton looked up to see more Loader Bots coming in.  
"Incoming!" He shouted in warning and opened fire on the Loaders. The other Vault Hunters slowly regained their senses and added in the fire power. When there was nothing left but scraps, Maya ran over to the cell to check on the psycho. He was only tossed into the wall of his cell, but without a shield, he took a pretty bad beating. As Maya began to heal him through the bars, Axton placed a quick ECHO call to Lilith, updating her on the situation.  
"Son of a BITCH!" She shouted in their ears, making everybody wince. They're taking him to the top of the dam! Get there, quick!"  
"We're on it! We're on it!" Axton hurriedly replied. Turning to his teammates, he asked, "Everybody good to go?"  
"They're not getting away that easily!" Gaige retorted, reloading her shotgun.  
"Let's go kill those metal pendejos!" Salvador laughed maniacally.  
"Wait!" Maya called out, getting everybody's attention. "We need to get Krieg out of here."  
Axton did a double take. "What? Why?" He asked, confounded.  
"Because he's a friend!" Maya snapped. "And we don't leave friends behind!" Axton couldn't believe this. Sure this psycho (Krieg, was it?) saved Maya's life, but that made him a part of the team? Then again, he did have fighting experience. Axton looked over to the others for support and saw Zer0 staring right back at him. Zer0 gave him a long hard stare, before glancing at Maya and Krieg. Axton could make out their reflection on Zer0's visor before Zer0 turned back to Axton. Zer0 sighed and gave his head a quick tilt, as if he was shrugging. Axton sighed back.  
"Anybody got a shield to give this guy?" Axton asked, hesitantly.  
"Noooo…" Gaige answered a little too quickly.  
"Gaige…" Zer0 turned towards her.  
"What? Oh, come on! I was saving this one!" She pleaded. "I got this from killing that bandit with the mohawk."  
Come on, Gaige. Just give it." Salvador piped up. "There will always be more killing and more trophies. Otherwise, what's the point?"  
"Fine." Gaige nodded in defeat. "But I'm getting this back as soon as he's done with it!"  
"Deal." Maya said, grabbing the shield from Gaige's hands before she could fully let go. She gave it to the now recovered Krieg. Krieg accepted it and turned to the rest of the Vault Hunters.  
"I'm so happy I could KILL you!" He shouted with glee. There was a moment of silence following this, which was broken by Axton coughing. "Not to break up this… emotional moment, but we've got a soldier to save." The Vault Hunters nodded and scrambled through the hole in the all. Krieg met them on the other side though the hole that was in his cell. He brandished his buzzaxe and charged forward, slamming into Loader Bots and EXPLoaders along the way. A Loader that had just grabbed a bandit suddenly found its arm chopped off. Its other arm and legs followed suit. Krieg's foot smashed down onto the Loader's eye. Axton ran over to shoot the bandit that was getting up to shoot Krieg. Krieg jumped backward at the sudden shot from Axton's gun. He growled and turned toward Axton.  
"No! No!" Maya suddenly intervened, pointing to the dead bandit." Krieg looked at the bandit then at Axton. He dropped his buzz axe and lumbered forward.  
"Appreciation!" He cheered, slamming his hand on Axton's back. Krieg might not have meant to, but that sent Axton flying a few feet.  
"Don't mention it." He muttered. He looked up to see Krieg picking up the dead bandit's SMG and ECHO for himself.  
"NIPPLE SALAD!" Krieg's voice ran through their ECHOs.  
"Umm, what the hell was that?" Lilith's voice came over the ECHOs.  
"We'll tell you later." Axton grumbled. "Let's keep moving." He called out to the others. "I think the exit's that way."  
"How do you know?" Salvador scratched his head.  
Gaige rolled her eyes. "Just follow the dead bodies, robot scraps and giant holes in walls."  
"Ah. Ci."

* * *

Soon the Vault Hunters came out to the top of the dam. Axton looked out at the structure that overlooked Three Horns. Tons of cars and metallic scraps had been stripped away and repurposed for erecting barriers, bridges and the occasional effigy all along the dam's surface. "What's taking so long, soldiers!" Roland's scream could be heard from their ECHOs. He must have been able to reactivate his once he left his cell. Axton pulled out the corrosive sniper that Maya had lent him and used its scope. Through it, he saw Roland being carried on a floating bot through a gate, screaming for help.  
"That bot's taking Roland to the drop-barge!" Lilith realized in horror. "Stop them before they get away!" The Vault Hunters scrambled down the path as more Hyperion bots rained down from the skies in an effort to stop them. "Shit!" Axton dove behind cover as a Loader shot his shotgun out of his hand. "Angel!" He shouted, touching his earpiece. I don't suppose you know how we can get to Roland before Hyperion takes him do you?"  
"Hyperion took Roland?" The AI's face came up in Axton's vision, looking worried. For an AI, anyway. "Mother- Jack didn't send Wilhelm, did he? Please tell me Jack didn't send Wilhelm."  
"Uh, I don't know who that is so… no?" Axton guessed. An explosion went off behind him as Salvador's rocket launcher took several Loaders apart. Axton grabbed his gun and regrouped with the others. "Does anybody know who Wilhelm is?"  
"I do not know him./ His name was not spoken/ He must not be here." Zer0 concluded.  
"Oh, that's a relief." Angel breathed.  
"Lucy in the Sky!" Krieg roared in surprise.  
"Um, who's that?" Angel asked as Maya calmed Krieg down.  
"He's Krieg." Axton answered. "He's the… Psycho." Maya turned and gave him a dirty look. "Well, what am I supposed to call him? Krieg the Mask? Krieg the Prisoner? These titles don't exactly fly off the tongue." Maya just sighed and rolled her eyes in compliance.  
"Very well." Angel responded. "Hello, Krieg."  
"I'm the conductor of the Poop Train!"  
"… Charming… Moving on, I am plotting a course to Roland for you now. This should bypass some of the more heavily armed sentry bots and place you at an ideal location to attack. Check your ECHOs for the map I've provided."  
"Thanks, Angel." Axton signed off. "Let's move out."

The Vault Hunters followed the path that Angel provided on their maps, blowing away any and all Hyperion Loaders in their way. Running forward at top speed, Axton simultaneously shot off a Loader's legs while jumping and slamming his legs into the Loader's torso. The inertia resulted in a makeshift metal sled, which Axton set his turret on. Sparks flew as Axton and turret rode down the path, firing bullets in every which direction. At the last minute, Axton grabbed his turret and leapt off the now-flaming Loader sled, which sped into the path of a few more Loaders. The resulting explosion took them out like bowling pins. Axton tucked and rolled as he tumbled across the concrete before bumping into something, bringing him to a sudden stop. He looked up to see a green GUN Loader pointing its gun arm at him. Suddenly, the Loader's red eye sparked and cracked open as a sword sliced downward from eye to leg. Zer0 stood above the destroyed loader sporting his signature 0 on his visor. He held out a hand to Axton, who accepted his help up. "So, am I winning?" Axton grinned. Zer0 tilted his head towards the loader he had just split in half like bread. "Fine. Tie?" Axton acquiesced. Zer0 flashed a :). Maya's purple phaselock bubble came flying overhead, carrying two loaders. Axton and Zer0 watched as they smashed into two other loaders, causing all four to fall over the wall of the dam. "Nice hit, Maya." Axton said into the ECHO.  
"Thanks." Maya said from a ledge above him. She dropped down next to Axton and Zer0 as an explosion rocked nearby. The three of them turned to see Salvador laughing like a maniac while on top of a damaged Badass Loader. Somehow, the Truxican had gotten on top of the loader and was dual firing bullets and rockets in every direction as the Loader tried in vain to get a lock on him. Krieg, meanwhile, had latched himself onto the Loader's leg and was firing at its torso.  
"Damn. I wanted to do that." Gaige said, coming up right next to Axton.  
"Really?"  
"Well it would have been more like I would break the Loader's armor and hot-wire the thing so I could control it. Talk about Anarchy."  
The four of them watched the chaotic spectacle in front of them for a few minutes.  
"Should we do something?" Gaige asked. "We are kinda on the clock."  
"How close are we?" Maya suddenly realized.  
"Around the corner." Zer0 answered, checking his ECHO map.  
Another minute passes.  
"Alright, it was funny the first time, but now I'm bored with it." Axton admitted. "Who wants to land the finishing blow?"  
"Gaige raised her hand ecstatically. "Me!" She announced and summoned Deathtrap in a blink of an eye. Deathtrap floated closer to the fireworks, charged up its laser, and put the Loader out of its misery.  
"Hey! I wasn't finished!" Salvador pouted like a child who was told it was time to go home. Well… It kinda was.  
"We've got to hurry and grab Roland before the drop-barge gets here." Maya reminded them.  
"Then fire the gunship and signal our victory!" Krieg roared.  
"I'll… take that as a signal to keep moving." Axton commented.

* * *

The Vault Hunters rushed the corner to find a giant statue of what appeared to be Marcus Kincaid with multiple arms. In front of the statue, they found Roland inside some kind of forcefield on top of a different type of robot. "That's a W4R-D3N!" Gaige realized. The robot's eye lit up and began to beep. The sound of digistructing was heard and lights came up all around them. "A constructor! Take cover!" The Vault Hunters dove behind cover as more Loaders flooded the confined area.  
"Gaige!" Axton called out over the gunfire. "Know how to stop this thing?"  
Before Gaige could say a word, Roland butted in. "The eye!" He shouted. "Go for the eye!"  
"Zer0!" Axton called out. Zer0 nodded and went invisible. "Alright!" Axton threw out his turret. "Let's get rid of its friends!" Axton's turret went to work on the constructor's shield while Axton and the others destroyed the incoming Loaders. Axton had just emptied a clip into two of them when the sound of something cutting through the air made him duck. Krieg's buzzaxe buried itself in the middle of a Loader that was right behind Axton. "Um, thanks." He said to the psycho.  
"Avast me hearties!" Krieg responded and went to work with a few more Loaders.  
"Zer0?" Axton asked aloud.  
"Now." Came Zer0's voice from their ECHOs. The Vault Hunters turned as Zer0's perfect sniper shot buried itself into the Constructor's eye. Two flying robots hovered by to reconstruct repairs but were quickly shot down by Axton's turret, as Axton and the others focused their fire on destroying the constructor. With one final beep, the constructor exploded, destroying Roland's cage in the process.  
"Lunar reinforcements! Get ready!" Roland shouted as Hyperion's satellite lunched mortars at them. The mortars turned into more Loaders, that were, in turn, ripped apart by bullets as fast as possible. When all was quiet, the Vault Hunters were standing in a pile of metal wreckage and fire. "Thanks." Roland breathed in relief. "I'd be dead if it weren't for you all. I owe you one, soldiers."  
"All in day's work." Gaige grinned.  
Roland smiled. "Let's head to Sanctuary. I've got a plan to stop Jack. But it won't work without all of you."

 **Author's Note: So that was it for now! I'll try my best to update ASAP. See you guys!**


End file.
